A Just Edge
by Ryan Morgan
Summary: This is the glorious tale of one, Ryan, who is a new Pokemon Trainer. This story tells of his super crazy adventures leading up to the newest Indigo League, and his encounters with a legendary Pokemon: a blue Mew. This story combines elements of cheeky comedy, drama, adventure, friendship, and mystery to tell a (hopefully) cohesive tale.
1. Adventure Times!

**Episode 1: Adventure Times!**

A long time ago, there lived a Pokemon trainer. He was, like many others, completely average; neither legendary nor extraordinary. But, like many others, he set out with the original goal of gathering badges to compete in the Indigo League. That was his only reason, really. There was no point or desire for him to try to catch them all. That would just be silly. He wanted only the glory of winning the tournament.

Nevertheless, he went out on his journey. It was a quaint little thing, his journey. The badges, of course, came naturally. First one, then two, then eight. And while the gym leaders each presented staunch opposition, none of them prepared him for the league. By the time he entered, the tournament had already done countless cycles. It was, quite frankly, a well-oiled machine which he had no business jumping aboard.

The first match went better than expected. He won in a rout, losing only a single Pokemon – his ivysaur. Verily, beginner's luck took him only so far. His next match was a loss. It was neither a critical nor close defeat, as his opponent had lost three Pokemon to his six. But the boy was not devastated by this loss. Sporting a respectable .500 record in his first year, the boy was motivated to try again. And he did. The second year proved progressively regressive. He lost his first match. But he tried again. The boy, now becoming a man, tried this for two more years until finally stopping. Going, cumulatively, 1-4, he had not as much as come close to victory since his first one.

Upon his final defeat, the boy had not actually given up. He set out to acquire the badges again when he a met a girl. As soon as they started seeing one another, his interests in Pokemon faded. He did poorly against every leader, and had to face many of them several times. Finally, he ran out of time against Sabrina, losing a lopsided battle between her Kadabra and his Abra. His passion for Pokemon evaporated, the man settled down with his wife, had a child, and officially retired from the Pokemon scene.

Ryan was no Pokemon wizard like his father. No sir, he was a scholar. He went to the local middle school full time. It was heavy stuff. This explains, then, why he was ditching class. Noon it was, and there was not a person in sight. Ryan was walking down the road, tearing leaves apart with his little hands. It was so nice out.

Ahead of him, the path turned out from the road and onto a dirt path. He had time; he went with it. Walking down it, a queer sound came from ahead. It was like a screech, but more focused. More deliberate. Like a couple of cats fighting.

The lane curved outward into a clearing of grass, revealing several figures. Ryan squinted his eyes, blocking out the sun, as he approached them. There were two of them. Well, two humans. There was a multitude of other creatures. Ryan knew these to be Pokemon.

As previously mentioned, Ryan was no Pokemon master. He knew of some Pokemon, mostly the super common ones or the ones his parents owned. He was less attuned to the appearances of those which he had never seen before. He saw one, a Pidgey, which he could identify, but the other, a small blue creature was indiscernible from the legions of species he had only the most basic eye recognition toward.

The Pidgey took to the air. It spiraled upward before coming down again and shooting at the other one, like something that shoots fast. The other Pokemon recoiled from the blunt force, flying several feet away, before landing on its feet. It growled, baring its teeth and then lunged at the Pidgey. It showed everyone its little paws, deviously sharp, and thrust them into the Pidgey's wing. The latter cried out in great pain, brushing the creature off of it. Creating a gust attack, it enveloped the little blue thing, and twirled it around. When the dust settled, when the Pokemon landed, it was asleep… or worse. No, not really.

Ryan continued watching as the trainer returned his Pidgey to the Pokeball, and the other did the same. The two shoot hands, before parting ways; one trudging off into the grass, another back to the cobbled brick of the city. And he never saw those trainers again.

That battle was completely awesome! Ryan shook with the feelings it gave him. He had always wanted to be a Pokemon trainer, but his mother had never allowed it. He had quietly accepted her reasonless answers to his pleas for following his father's footsteps before. This was several years later, obviously. A Pokemon trainer sets out when they are ten. Ryan, being fourteen, was not in prime position to set out.

Why not? Why does the age matter so much? It shouldn't. He's smarter than any 10 year old. If anything, he would be the better choice. He had to say something. So, Ryan took speed back to his own home, a query on his mind.

His mother was home early; he heard her in her room (what she was doing was no matter to us readers, though we may guess about it). Ryan was supposed to be at school, so he made sure to tip toe quietly in. He didn't want to be yelled at, after all. Making his way to his room, he passed by his mother's Squirtle – her household helper pokemon. Ryan liked him okay, but this Squirtle had one notoriously dubious feature to his notably intricate personality: he was an unrepentant tattle-tail. Ryan crossed past the dining table, finding the Squirtle bent over sweeping. The Squirtle looked up as he came in, and a small, deviously delightful smirk came to its face.

Ryan made a frantic throw across the table, trying to grab the Squirtle before he could go tell Mother about Ryan being home early. But this Squirtle was a pro compared to Ryan. He knew. Hooky was not to be tolerated by a weasel.

The Squirtle's dexterity aside, Ryan fell over the table and crashed onto the hard floor. He let out a reflexive cry of pain which did more than enough to alert his mother that Ryan was now home. The door opened, on the far hall, revealing the face of a woman, tall and dark eyed, her long brown her sweeping around the corner of the wood by more than two feet's length.

"Squirtle, is that you?" she called out.

"Squirtle squirtle! Squirtle!" he replied, earnestly.

"Huh, Ryan's home?"

Oh my god. She speaks Squirtle. How the heck can she speak his language? Ryan thought these thoughts to himself, rightly keeping them to himself. His mother, however, was quickly walking down the hall. He would be found out.

"Ryan, what are you doing back so early?" his mother said, coming around to face him.

"Oh, hi mom. I got off early today!" replied Ryan, beaming up at her.

"You got off school early? Why did you get off early?"

"No reason…"

His mother's tone turned serious, "Are you lying to me, Ryan?"

"What, lying? No!"

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"No, we just- "

"Don't lie to me, Ryan. I'm your mother. I can tell when you're lying to me!"

"Bu- "

" No buts. Tell me why you skipped school."

"I – I don't know," He said, lowering his head, "It's just so boring."

"Now Ryan, you can't just skip school because you're bored. Everyone has to go to school."

He looked up, wide-eyed, "Not everyone. Pokemon trainers don't have to go to school."

"Th-that's what this is about? You suddenly want to be a Pokemon trainer now? I thought we went over this."

"Yeah, so what?"

"You're too old, Ryan. Besides, you don't have any ge- "

"I'll just use dad's old stuff. And we've got a lot of Pokemon here, can't I just use a couple of those?"

His mother didn't respond. She flashed a distraught look, of which he did not pick up. Among his wrecked posture, Ryan darted his eyes about. Sure, they had Pokemon. Well, there was Squirtle. Out in the back, they had a few ponds of the fish types, but those never interested Ryan. There were a slew of Doduos and Dodrios, but those wouldn't do. He'd have asked for his father's Rapidash (as that appeared the most capable warrior) if not for, when he looked up, he saw the way his mother was.

He really shouldn't have brought up Pokemon trainers and his father at the same time (let alone, alone!). But he couldn't help it. That fight had gotten to him. It was what he could have been, what he should have been. He looked around furiously for something within his vicinity, something more suitable for the current situation. He spied, of course, a single Pokemon lying on an out-window, bathing in the sun, having a riot of a time. He couldn't tell if it was Persian, but he hoped it was. Ryan flexed his arm up and pointed to the creature.

"What about that one? Couldn't I just take that one for a while? He can't be one of dad's favorites. I know dad wouldn't mind…"

"And do what?" his mother asked, incredulously.

"Well, go around and do Pokemon trainer stuff."

"Do you even know what that means, Ryan? You don't just set out on a random journey with no idea of what you're doing."

"Really?"

His mother faltered. Her son was right. That was exactly what they did. There was no denying it. Before she could answer, though, the phone rang and she carried herself out, away from her son.

Ryan sat up and crawled over to the window to see his prized pick. Ah, it would be glorious to take on the world, starting with this Persian! This was surely his favorite Pokemon (with his father's Rapidash rapidly fading out of his stinted memory). He grasped up on the padded bed lay that it had dominion over and spoke:

"Heya Persian! How've you been?"

"Aaaaaaabra…" the Pokemon let out in a low wheeze.

That's not the sound a Persian makes! Golly! It was his father's old abra. Dang it, Ryan thought. This was that Pokemon that lost him his father's final match. He didn't want that! Useless sack of something useless. Ryan stood up, irritated. He looked around for that dastardly Persian.

Seriously, not in a forced manner, Ryan's mother returned to the room.

"That was your school."

"Oh… yeah," responded Ryan.

"They've told me about your grades the past few weeks. They're terrible."

"Yeah…"

"And that is all because you have wanted to be a Pokemon trainer?"

"Uh, yeah that's right!" said Ryan, ever quick on his toes.

"Then maybe it would be good to let you clear your head and go out for a little while."

"Ah, you mean it? I can be a Pokemon trainer? Just like that?"

"It will be better for you if you saw exactly what that means. Take your Pokemon and take your things, and go out," she said in a defeated sigh, nodding up to the sleeping Abra.

"Bu-but… that's not the one…"

He glanced back at Abra. It yawned long as it squinted back in his general vicinity. Aw shucks, Abra was his Pokemon now. Ryan swore he heard Squirtle cackling behind his mother.


	2. Rick 'Em In The Rishpan

Splinters hurt. Ryan had one; he sure did. To explain to you accurately how bad his hurt would cause me to devolve into words and phrases too adult, too grotesque to be allowed. Let's just say the sliver of wood he had jammed up his toenail hurt. Real bad.

This war scar had been added moments prior, when Ryan had stumbled over a bramble. He had never felt pain this horrible. He could barely breathe as he just sat there taking wave after wave of pain. He was only a mile into his Pokemon adventure. This was a great beginning. He attempted to sit up. Ryan quickly looked over his belongings – his Pokeballs, Pokedex, food, all that stuff. It was all intact. Just as he was about to go back to sulking in his ruin, Ryan caught a glimpse of a bugger.

Holy Professor Oak, it was a Pokemon! Ryan needed to catch all of them, or something like that. He reached down and grabbed onto Abra's ball before throwing it at the bugger he saw. Abra came flying out of his ball upside down and screaming. He must've been asleep. Nevertheless, Abra got into a battle stance immediately, before giving Ryan a loyal "so how should I kill this guy, boss?" look.

Ryan shrugged before saying, "Um, Abra use your slashy-claw attack!"

Abra offered a quizzical, "Abra ah?", quite unsure as to what to do.

"Uh… um… Abra? Isn't that an attack?" Abra shook his head furiously, "What? But you have claws! You're saying you can't use them?"

"Abra abra abra ra abra abra ah ah ra. Abra! Abra bra ra abra abra ah ah ah!

"Maybe I should try dad's Pokedex."

He fumbled in his pockets for it and whipped it out with a little grace. Pointing his Pokedex at Abra, Ryan said, "What're his attacks?"

"Abra, the Psi Pokemon-"

"Yeah yeah. Just tell me his attacks. I know his name."

"Abra's attacks consist of teleport."

"And…?"

"Teleport is Abra's only attack."

"You've got to be kidding."

The Pokedex did not respond. Ryan turned to his Abra, "Didn't my dad teach you any other attacks, like a TM or HM or something?"

"Abra abra.

"SPEAK ENGLISH!"

"Bra? A'ra!"

Ryan had no clue what Abra just said, but what was he to do? They couldn't communicate. He remained quiet and watched as Abra walked forward, his clawed (uselessly clawed!) hands outstretched in a sort of dazed feel through. But this was no feel through. He was attacking the bugger.

In Abra's hands, blue energy began forming. Ryan smiled in delight. Yes, this was an attack! The Pokedex was wrong! Abra went right up to the bugger and released his blue attack; his psychic attack. It hit. The bugger made no sound as Abra applied his beatdown, but moments later, when the smoke began rising and Ryan so no counterattack, he knew he'd won.

Ryan ran up to Abra. "Good boy, Abra! You got him!"

"Bra."

Ryan, overly gleeful at his first Pokemon battle victory ran to the defeated Pokemon. It was all yellow, and it looked like a banana. Ryan liked bananas.

He picked the thing up, as it continuously smoked and did nothing else.

"What is it? I've never seen one of these before."

"Abra."

"No, it's not an Abra, silly. Let's ask the Pokedex."

Ryan pointed his Pokedex at the creature with one hand, holding it with the other.

"Kakuna, the Cocoon Pokemon. Able to move only slightly. When endangered, it may stick out its stinger and poison its enemy."

"Oh cool! It's a poisonous one!"

Ryan laughed and swung the dazed Kakuna around.

"Abra. Ra ra!" Abra said in a cautioning tone.

"Shut up Abra, he's mine now."

Evidently, Kakunas do not like being swung around, because by doing this, Ryan got himself a stinger in his arm. His scream was shrill as it was loud, long as it was high. He dropped Kakuna and grabbed onto his arm. Shouting curses which cannot possibly be written out, Ryan kicked Kakuna. He began ranting about how it's not fair that Pokemon fight humans and not other Pokemon. However, since he was now poisoned, Ryan was feeling ruddy terrible and needed to get to town fast. He paused his rant to quickly throw up. After that, he threw one of his spare Pokeballs at Kakuna, but it just bounced off.

"Aw come on… Abra, attack him again. Slice him!"

Per order, the ever faithful Abra attacked Kakuna again with his claws. Sharp claws though they were, Abra was not experienced with this type of attack. Not to mention, Kakuna had just silently used harden about fifty times.

Shockingly, the swipe attack did nothing. Abra let out a cry of pain, his tears falling hard and fast. He gingerly caressed his sore claws. He looked up to Ryan as if this was all his fault. Ryan was not watching, though. He was falling into delirium as the poison attacked his nervous system. His vision was going fuzzy. He had no choice. He picked up Kakuna again and began running. Vermillion City was closest. His grandmother lived there. He knew the way. They had a gym, so surely they'd have a Pokecenter. Heck, he didn't have much of a choice.

Ryan did not wait for Abra. Kakuna continuously stung him in the arm as he ran, but Ryan bit his lip and held back his cries. This was his Pokemon. He caught it fair and square. He couldn't just leave it. He would suffer through the pain of holding it.

Ryan came into the city, flying at a speed faster than he'd ever gone. He whirled past the houses and buildings and skyscrapers. He ran as far as he could for as long as his legs could hold out against the poison. And then, his vision went black. He dropped Kakuna and fell on the sidewalk.

* * *

><p>Morphine is the greatest creation of mankind. Ryan had an IV in his arm. It was on automatic. Apparently he had been hospitalized, though he remembered none of it, and since then, nurses and Chanseys had attended to him. He just lay in his bed through all hours and pressed his button to give him more and more morphine. It was all a blur; he couldn't even remember why he was here or what injured him enough to get so much attention. The only thing Ryan could think of was how much he loved morphine.<p>

Nurse Joy gave him the hardest bone wrapping on his un-IV'd hand. As she applied it, like she had already applied it to his IV'd hand, she started making small talk. Ryan just nodded and drooled and winced at the hardness being applied and pressed his morphine button until she mentioned his Pokemon.

"Your Abra and Kakuna are in their Pokeballs at your bedside. I was going to mention them earlier, but you were sleeping."

Then the memories came back. The fight, the catch, the run, the poison… he was a Pokemon trainer! Yeah, Nurse Joy, you're treating a Pokemon trainer today.

"I just c-caught Kakuna, you know," Ryan sputtered as best he could.

"Oh really? You must be a Pokemon trainer then. Have you given it a name?"

"A name?"

"Usually you name your Pokemon…" Joy said with a smile and a chuckle. Her eyes sparkled so much. How could they do that? Ryan shifted his position as his arm wrapping became harder and harder.

"Oh… well Abra doesn't have a name."

"Can't you give him one?"

"N-no… he's my dad's Pokemon. I can't do that."

"Oh, but that doesn't mean you can't give Kakuna a name. After all, you caught it all by yourself."

"I guess…" said Ryan.

Joy continued fixing up Ryan, replacing his IV and cleaning up everything. She brought the two Pokeballs off of the table and placed them in his lap. She smiled at him.

"You can take them out and talk to them. I know it's probably pretty lonely up here alone."

"Wait," said Ryan quickly, "Was Kakuna hard to get in the ball?"

"No," replied Joy in a high voice, "She went in fine. She's tame."

"She?" Ryan asked.

"Oh yes, your Kakuna is a female. I thought you would like to know that before giving her a name."

"Oh, thanks," said Ryan.

Joy gave him one more smile (!) before leaving, closing the door behind her.

Ryan let Abra out immediately. The small Pokemon yawned himself awake and stared up at Ryan with its Brock eyes.

"Abra! Abraaaaa."

"Aw, did I wake you up, Abra?" said Ryan, grinning, "Sorry about that."

"Abra."

"Yeah, I know!" Ryan laughed, not knowing what Abra said. Sometimes it's good to just go along with things.

Ryan was more hesitant to let Kakuna out. Last time he'd touched this Pokemon, she'd stung him so many times, he had to come here. He looked over at Abra.

"Did Nurse Joy really get her in there?"

"Ra."

"So she's nice now? Not gonna sting me again?"

"Ra."

"You better be saying yes, Abra," Ryan said.

He opened up her Pokeball and let her out. He was both prepared to run out of the hospital and spam his morphine button dry if she attempted anything. But she did not. Instead, she just lay, occasionally moving her little face around, but never stinging him.

Ryan gave himself a shot of morphine just because he could.

"Abra, abra ah? Raa bra aaaaabra," Abra said to the Kakuna.

"Eiieeiiinnggyyeie," it replied.

"Abra! Bra."

"Nnnnneeeennee?"

"Aaah."

Well this was all very interesting, Ryan thought to himself. Well, except for the fact that he had no idea what they were saying. He couldn't name her nnnnneieieinnei. That would be unsightly. But she needed some name. Ryan had never thought of naming any of his Pokemon. Verily, he knew not that Pokemon were given names. When he read the magazines or saw fights on the tele, they never referred to any Pokemon by name. Why was he supposed to just expect that to be part of the trade?

She was a Kakuna. She was yellow. She kind of looked like a banana. But he couldn't call her that. That would be embarrassing when he went to the gyms and used her in fights. 'Banana go!' would just not work. Especially since he was a boy. They'd laugh. Yes they would.

Then, Ryan thought of the word Kakuna and he realized how similar it was to another word, to another pair of words. It was one of his most favorite songs he ever knew. It was one of his most favorite movies he ever saw. And surely no one would know of the reference to it unless he told them, or unless I tell you, the reader, here now. Which I cannot possibly do.

Ryan sat up as his Pokemon continued talking to one another. He couldn't understand either of them. He didn't understand how they, speaking different Pokemon languages, understood each other. But that is a debate for another time. Ryan had already thought up his name and he was ready to tell it.

"Hey Abra, I thought up a name," said Ryan, leading to both Pokemon to stop talking and turn to face him, "From now on, let's call her Matata."


	3. The One Where They Get A Badge

A few days and a few hundred mgs of morphine later, Ryan was released from the hospital. He had been itching to get out for quite a while, as it was unbearable to be around Nurse Joy in the way he was. You know, without being able to move. Now he was fresh as he was sprung. It was time to go to Lt. Surge's Gym and get his first badge. His mother had said that was the goal of all Pokemon trainers, and if he was to follow his father's footsteps, there was no better place to start.

He knew the way, he'd been there before. As previously mentioned, Ryan's grandmother lived in Vermillion City, which was the closest megapolis to his hometown of Commerce City. He would often sneak away from the drearily droll afternoon tea parties his grandmother held with his family to come down and watch Pokemon fights at Lt. Surge's Gym.

He knew Surge almost always used a Raichu, but occasionally he'd use other Pokemon if there were a lot of challengers lined up. Ryan didn't know many of them, just the Voltorb and Magnetron, but they were all equally fierce. He'd have to work some kind of plan up. As far as he knew, Surge only did single duels - 1v1 Pokemon battles. It was either Abra or Matata he would have to use. Thousands of trainers have beaten Surge, though, Ryan thought. He would too.

The walk was not long. Soon, Ryan had found his way, down by the water to the high- walled gym. There were no trainers milling about, but that was okay. He opened the large doors himself and walked in. Inside, he was quickly met with two people. One was Surge, a tall muscular, silver haired man, and a younger girl with pink hair.

"Yeah, that's some Arcanine you've got. I'm impressed."

"He's been with me for a long time," the girl responded with her shoulders shrugged.

"So, you're training for the Indigo league? How many badges do ya have now?"

"This makes five," she responded.

Surge laughed in his deep booming, "Well, with that Arcanine of yours, you'll do great in the league," Surge stopped laughing as soon as he came around the corner and saw Ryan, "Another one already. Ya wanna badge too?"

"Yeah," responded Ryan, dropping his voice for the girl.

"Then, let's go," said Surge.

The girl smirked as Ryan walked passed her, his chest puffed out, his two Pokeballs presented proudly on his belt. Surge led him back into the gym, to the place where they fight.

"I'd normally use Raichu, but he just got done with a battle," Surge's voice rose to a dramatic scream, "So I'll use Electrode!"

He threw his ball in an impossibly curved trajectory, and the Pokemon came out. It looked like an upside down Pokeball, which made Ryan laugh. He, himself, let out both of his Pokemon to weigh them up against the opponent. Abra was good, but Ryan didn't know all of his attacks. Matata lacked any mobility, but if she got close, she'd be able to do some damage.

Surge interrupted his thoughts, "Those are yar Pokemon?"

"Yeah, they're all I have!" Ryan yelled back.

"Ya don't stand a chance with either one!"

Ryan's confidence shattered immediately, his lip trembling, "Wha… what?"

"Ya kiddin me? My Electrode could shock both of your Pokemon outta here together!"

"Do you really think so?" asked Ryan, timidly.

"Heh, yeah, I'll even let ya use both of them against me."

"Whoa, really?"

"Yeah, I'll shock ya either way. It'll make the fight more interesting."

Ryan kneeled down to begin his attack strategy, "All right, Abra, Matata, this is what I want you to do…"

Behind, the pink-haired girl, who was slightly taller and older than Ryan came in to watch. She folded her arms and leaned up against the far wall.

Abra and Matata moved into the ring. Since Kakunas can't really move themselves, Abra had to carry her in. Surge, satisfied with his guaranteed victory, began the match. Electrode rolled forward, increasing its speed in a headbutt attack.

"Abra, go!" Ryan yelled.

Abra threw Matata, after she hardened, at Electrode, in a counterattack of headbutts. The harden was enough to stop the enemy, but damaged Matata more than it did Electrode. Abra, meanwhile was instructed to jump aside and try a psywave.

Abra charged up his psywave quickly before sending it right to Electrode. Electrode, still dazed from the headbutt attack was not deft enough to dodge it. The energy sent Electrode flying back, smoking and bruised slightly. Surge yelled to his Pokemon to try another attack, just as Ryan did the same.

Electrode began a thunderbolt attack. Abra was going to do a slashy-claw attack, but Electrode's attack charged faster. He shot it at Abra, and it connected. Abra let out a low pulsating yell, interrupting itself through the electric shock. He stumbled back, hurt, but not beaten. In this time, Matata had rolled over to behind Electrode.

"Sting 'em, Makata!" Ryan yelled earnestly.

Surge tried yelling to his Pokemon, but it was too late. The stinger plunged into Electrode and instantly poisoned it. Electrode howled in pain, just in time for Abra to lunge in a high jump and come down with a heavy swipe across its face. The Electrode, furiously tackled Abra away, but the poison prevented it from following up with an attack. Desperate, Surge let out one final order.

"Electrode, self destruct attack!"

Electrode nodded and stopped moving. A bright light engulfed it entirely. Ryan simply stood there.

"Hey, do something! That Electrode is going to take out both of your Pokemon if that attack goes through!"

"What?" Ryan said, spinning around. He saw it to be the girl.

"Have them use a defensive attack."

"A… defensive attack? I don't know if they have any," Ryan pondered, "Hey, Abra, do you have a defensive move?"

"Abra, ra," Abra responded, confidently.

"Then use it! Don't let that Pokemon's attack hit you!"

"Abra abra!"

Electrode's bright white aura started taking over everything, to the point where Ryan couldn't see anything. It was getting real bad. He just hoped Abra had a move that could hold off this self destruct. Then Electrode exploded. In any other instance, watching someone explode would cause Ryan to do the same, but this is Pokemon.

The dust flew everywhere, and it went into Ryan's eyes. He coughed and covered his face as the wind picked up, blowing his blue hair all out of place. Still hacking up dust and pieces of the gym, he looked up. His watering eyes could barely give a clear picture, but he did see one thing – a dark, flying shape. Well, that couldn't be right. Nobody was supposed to be flying.

He blinked about thirty-seven times to clear his eyes. And he saw what it was. Abra, his pointed body in a controlled free fall, breathing heavily, all scratched up, Matata in his hands, but nonetheless conscious. In the crater of the explosion lay Electrode, knocked out. Abra landed a second later, setting down the Kakuna. They were both still in the ring.

Ryan had won. Though he did not know it, and probably would never know it, Ryan had just witnessed the first time in Pokemon history that a teleport attack was used to win a match.

"Well, I gotta hand it to ya, kid. You know your stuff. Never seen an Abra who knew psyshock or barrier before…"

Ryan simply beamed.

The girl must have watched him pull off that spectacular victory. He turned and saw her up against the wall, her arms folded, her heel pulled up against the wall. He smiled at her, but she didn't look at him. Surge came up behind Ryan, causing him to let out a high scream that echoed through the gym.

"Sheesh kid, I'm just givin' ya your badge."

"Oh right, sorry. Thanks," said Ryan, going quite red.

He pocketed the badge, and left without much more incident. The girl followed him out, and by the time they were outside, back on the road by the water, they were walking side by side. Neither one spoke. The air was as thick as something which is thick and also unmentionable.

The girl stopped up against a fence. She rested her arms on it and looked out over the ocean. Ryan stopped too, awkwardly standing behind her. He knew not of how to approach this. She was a girl after all. She could easily take it the wrong way.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Uh, I just wanted to say thanks for the help… you know with the badge and all."

She continued in indignation, "Surge really gave it to you, didn't he? Two on one against one of his weakest Pokemon. You're lucky I was there to take out his Raichu."

"Yeah, thanks."

The two stood in silence for a few more minutes.

"Well? You've said what you wanted to say. Aren't you going to go now?"

"Um, I don't really know where the other gyms are, and you are obviously going to them, so I thought-"

She turned around at this, bold fire in her eyes, "You want to tag along?"

"No… not tag along, just come along."

"That's the same thing!"

"No, no it's not. Besides, I can protect you with my Pokemon!" he said, dramatically, if lamely.

"Protection, huh. Yeah, it really looks like you got me there."

"Great!" shouted Ryan, "Where are we going now?"

"I am going to get my next badge."

"But what is it called?"

"If I tell you, you'll follow me," she said.

"I'm following you anyway," Ryan replied.

The girl did not respond to that.

"Hey, I'm Ryan by the way."

She looked over at him, rolling her eyes, "Kelly. Fine, I'm going to Fuchsia City. "

And thus, a brilliant partnership was formed.


	4. The One Where I Don't Spoil What Happens

Kelly had paid for a boat down the briny, and graciously was Ryan allowed with her. They did not talk all the way to Fuchsia. Ryan didn't mind. He was too preoccupied with his Thunder Badge. Not many people could get a Thunder Badge like Ryan did. He totally won his first gym battle like it was nothing. He was a Pokemon master. A Pokemon legend! Yeah!

The two silently got off the boat, paid their fare, and began the short walk into the village. It was dusk, but not all that dark out. The moon was out in full, and the village had many lights about that lit the way. Ryan was humming some Lion King to himself when he noticed a dastardly shape moving parallel in the water next to him. Not even stopping, he whipped out his Pokedex, like a boss, and pointed it at this shape. Because, surely, this was a Pokemon as his experience had thus far taught him. And he was right.

"Golduck, the duck Pokemon. Its slim and long limbs end in broad flippers. They are used for swimming gracefully in lakes," the Pokedex droned out.

"Ah, cool. It's a water one. I've always wanted one of those!" exclaimed Ryan.

Kelly shook her head and continued walking. But Ryan was adamant. He needed a new fighter in his arsenal. He reached down, and threw his two occupied Pokeballs out over the grass. Out came loyal Abra, and his Kakuna, Matata.

Before ordering them to attack, however, Ryan wanted to test something.

"Abra, show me all of your attacks before we start," he began earnestly, "I need to know what you can do."

Mr. Loyalty, aka Abra, did so, charging up his blue energy. But then Ryan, all bug-eyed and brash, screamed out with hoarse command:

"I already know about the psychic attack, so don't show me that, silly!"

"Bra!"

Pokemon have only four moves, they sure do. So Abra went on to show Ryan his three other moves as the Pokemon trainer held his Pokedex out and had it read to him which moves they were. First, Abra created an electrical barrier around him which caused Ryan to go numb; that was his second attack, a thunder wave. For the third, Abra started moving around quickly, creating illusions of himself; and that was double team. Great Pokeballs, that move was useless, Ryan thought. Why on Poke-earth would his father have given Abra that?

But the fourth move wasn't any better. Just seeing it made Ryan feel like he had woken up sucking on lemon. Abra squatted on the ground, grunting for eons like a certain yellow-haired man of a completely different universe which I shan't mention for fear of the fanboys coming for me. Needless to say, the Pokedex called this move reflect. Of course, Abra also had the psybeam and teleport (oh no, that's more than four moves! But we will just forget about that), but we've already seen those so no need to rehash them yet. And now you know all of Abras moves. Yep, they're practically are all TMs. Ryan thought that it must have cost his dad a small fortune to buy all those TMs… and for what? Just an Abra. His father wasn't rich. It wasn't even his father's best Pokemon. He looked down at that little guy and couldn't help but wonder what was so special about him.

Little did he know Abra was thinking the same thing about his master.

Then Ryan pointed a finger at the wild Golduck who was still swimming at a lackadaisical pace. It was time to own this nublet.

"Attack that Golduck!" Ryan shouted at them.

They nodded in understanding and turned to face the swimming monstrosity. Sure, this was no Kappa, but it looked as diabolical as any river monster could. Ryan was not very familiar with either of his Pokemon's attacks yet, so he did not dare give them order again on what to do. Instead, he allowed Abra to use its own eclectic arsenal of TMs that his father had given it (and would be impossible to ever find out). Kakuna would help by being a distraction or something. Who knows. Ryan just wanted Mataka to evolve so it could actually fight. The purpose of Kakuna was almost none, and he couldn't understand how a Pokemon trainer (like himself) was supposed to level up a Pokemon which couldn't even move, and had like no attacks.

Nonetheless, Abra alone got the Golduck's attention. A psybeam to it caused the Golduck to stop its swimming, and jump out of the water. It jumped up in a graceful arc before landing on the soft grass in front of the group. Dripping with water, its red eyes livid, it bellowed out its name for all to hear. Yes, it was a Golduck. The Pokedex had already told them that.

It rushed Abra with its claws out. Abra screamed in fear because of how sharp they were. Kakuna grunted itself into a harden so that Abra could block with it. And Abra, not one to be shredded into pieces willingly, did so. He picked up Kakuna, and using her as a shield, blocked all of Golducks's scratch attacks. Golduck, unsatisfied, tried a tail whip, wagging it in front of the two adversaries, but even that couldn't lower Kakuna's harden defense enough.

Abra then attacked, himself, and the psychic attack hit Golduck with a critical hit. Golduck yelped, singed and hurting. It focused itself back on Abra, but it hadn't noticed Matata latching herself onto its leg. Golduck tried to shake it off, but it was too late. A moment later, Golduck felt Matata sting it. It was poisoned. Screaming in rage, it kicked Matata off of it, and focused on Abra. Using its most powerful attack, blizzard, it covered Abra in a cold freeze. Abra was barely able to move, and subsequently fainted.

"No, Abra!" Ryan yelled, helpfully.

But in this time, something extra-ordinary occurred. Matata turned all white, and began pulsating. Her attacks on Ryan, the Electrode, and now Golduck had evidently put it over the threshold. She was transformed. Ryan quickly pointed his Pokedex at this new being to see what he should call it.

"Beedrill, the poison bee Pokemon. It has 3 poisonous stingers on its forelegs and its tail. They are used to jab its enemy repeatedly."

"Awesome! I got a Beedrill!" Ryan was ecstatic, "Hey, Kelly, see? Look what Matata transformed into!"

Kelly, who had stopped walking, and stood behind Ryan watching this fight, rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah."

"Although, her name doesn't really make sense any more now that she's a Beedrill," Ryan said.

He had completely forgotten that a fight was still going on. Only when Golduck threw itself at Beedrill, and Beedrill dodged with an air ascension, did Ryan see what was going on.

"Oh, we still haven't got him yet. Well Beedrill, use your fury attack!"

"Rill!" she responded and attacked.

Golduck, consumed by the poison, had not the dexterity to dodge the fury swipes. Matata rushed it, and jabbed its pointy hands into Golduck. Golduck was hit two times! It stumbled back, preparing its own retaliation, but it was no use. The poison was sapping what strength Abra and Beedrill hadn't already taken away. It collapsed next to the fallen Abra, and fainted.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Ryan screamed!

If he had a hat, he would turn it around and get all serious before making the camera take a close up of his left eye, then throw his Pokeball all majestically at the defeated enemy. But he didn't have a hat, so he just threw the ball normally. He also returned Abra and Matata to their Pokeballs, praising their valor and staunch readiness to his cause.

Kelly did not congratulate him, however. She once again badgered him and nagged him to death on the fact that he didn't fight fair. Using two Pokemon to catch one just wasn't right.

"Well, says who?" said Ryan with a fierce scowl.

"That's just how it's done," she replied, simply.

"Well, I can do it however I want. You can't tell me how to do it!" Ryan said, in tantrum.

Kelly cared not to pursue this argument, letting Ryan feel as if he had won it.

The two walked into town, and looking at the time, saw it was not even eight o'clock. The gym was still open! Kelly mentioned something about fighting tonight, and then began running off down a street to her left. Well, Ryan was all alone. He had no idea where anything in this town was. So he ran after her. She was faster than she looked, and Ryan was embarrassed that he could barely keep up. Indeed, his stomach was cramping within two blocks.

When he finally caught up to her, she was standing inside a large, one story building, with the door open. It was wooden, and planked across its walls and floor. Ryan, wheezing and coughing, entered into the quiet room, and saw Kelly standing a dozen feet ahead of him. In front of her was a tall man wearing blue. Ryan saw them bow to each other, then draw their Pokemon.

The man sent out a small little thing that Ryan knew was a Venonat. Kelly threw her own ball, and out came her legendary Pokemon, Arcanine.

"Whoa, Arcanine…" Ryan breathed to himself.

"Venonat, tackle attack!" The gym leader commanded.

The Venonat did so, throwing itself at Arcanine. Arcanine took the attack, growling softly, but not being damaged badly.

"Arcanine, fire blast!" Kelly said in retaliation.

Arcanine did so, creating a small collection of three pointed flame balls in his mouth. Then, he threw it out at Venonat. Venonat just stood there, its big red eyes shining in fear and hopelessness. The attack hit right on, burning Venonat, throwing it back against the wall. It feebly stood up, but then fell over, completely spent.

"Excellent attack, but you won't beat me again!" the man shouted.

He threw his second Pokeball, and out came a Scyther. Kelly withdrew her Arcanine, and threw a second of her own. Out came a Raichu, but it didn't look like a regular Raichu. It was darker. Ryan could tell by the tail, it was a female.

"'Aichu, Thundershock!"

The Raichu jumped forward, readying an aura of electric around it. It focused this into a bolt of lightning, which came down right on top of Scyther. Scyther was affected pretty badly, as it howled out in pain.

"Now… Scyther… razor wind!" said the gym dramatically.

A tornado of who-knows-what began forming, but the Scyther did not attack yet. This razor wind must need some charging up time.

"Growl attack!" Kelly yelled.

The pokemon did so, but Ryan could not hear it, nor yet even guess as to what purpose such a move had - for not doing any damage puzzled him greatly.

Then Scyther stepped forward and shot the razor wind at 'Aichu. And it hit the poor mouse squarely. The razors all cut into 'Aichu, causing massive amounts of cuts to form across its body. It fell to the ground, gasping.

"'Aichu?" Kelly said, with worry in her voice.

"'Ai, Raichu chu," it replied, standing up.

"Okay, good. Quick attack, then!"

Raichu moved quickly back and forth, deftly bouncing off the walls and floor to confuse Scyther. But Scyther was not confused.

"Very well, Scyther use your slash!"

Countering the Raichu's quick attack, Scyther ran forward and rammed its sword-hands down on the running rodent. 'Aichu was caught off guard, and flew back, hurting badly. Scyther landed in front of it.

"Now, Scyther, finish it off with a hyper beam," the gym leader said confidently.

Scyther moved forward, preparing the beam when Kelly tried something.

"'Aichu, Thunderbolt!"

"Ai… chu…" it replied.

'Aichu's damaged state lent itself to a lethargic setup, giving Scyther enough time to get its own attack ready. As Scyther charged the attack,, 'Aichu stood up and charged a second electric attack. Right before Scyther finished, and could aim at the Raichu, it released its thunderbolt. Multiple long blasts of electric energy rained down on Scyther, and sent it to the ground. It screamed out as the merciless blast hit it again and again. Quickly, its health drained, its stamina left, and it finally fainted. 'Aichu had won. More importantly, Kelly had won.

Ryan didn't bother listening to all the congratulations. He barged in and ran right up to the Gym Leader.

"I wanna fight too."

The man nodded Kelly away, after giving her the badge, and took stance easily, "Very well, I still have two Pokemon left. You are okay with a two on two?"

"Yeah, sure," Ryan replied quickly.

"Very well, let's begin."

"Venomoth, go!" shouted the man.

"Go Matata!" Ryan mimicked.

"Venomoth, use psybeam!"

"Matata, use twineedle!" Ryan mimicked again.

The two met, exchanging attack. They flew back and forth a few times, before Ryan switched his attack.

"Fury swipes, yeah!"

But fury swipes did little to Venomoth. The Gym Leader simply used sleep powder, and Matata fell. Following that up, Venomoth used a psychic attack, and because Matata was asleep, and defenseless, this thoroughly depleted the Beedrill. Matata fainted in its sleep. Ryan had lost round one.

"Well, do you have a second Pokemon?"

"Yeah, I do," Ryan replied, "Go Abra!"

Abra came out of his ball, and immediately fell over. He was still damaged from his battle previously, and was in no shape to fight. Of course, Ryan had never learned about the stamina of a Pokemon. He had just thought all Pokemon are immediately healed once they go back in their ball. That's how it was on TV! But this wasn't TV, this was real life. And as Abra immediately had fainted, that meant Ryan had lost.

"Maybe you should go heal your Pokemon at the Pokecenter before challenging me again," the man said, coldly.

Ryan nodded, dejectedly, before leaving. Kelly had, surprisingly waitied for him. She seemed chipper.

"See, when you fight fair, you don't win," Kelly said to him.

"Hey, shut up," Ryan scoffed, "Nobody asked you anything. Just take me to the Pokecenter so I can go beat him properly."

Kelly laughed aloud as she led this novice boy out of the Gym, and back down the road to the Pokecenter.


	5. Melancholic Madness

There comes a time when every Pokemon Master, such as Ryan, must come to terms with their imperfections. Be them tactical errors, or the sheer lack of talent around them, masters inevitably lose battles. And for those who see failure as merely opportunity, such things are held with light heart. But for those, like Ryan, who see nothing but wasted time in such defeats, there will always, invariably, be another long drop in the crater that once housed his confidence.

Kelly had bought a hotel room, and had gingerly offered Ryan company for the night (on the couch, really). At first, he hadn't known what to say – this girl had not hid her disdain for him prior, so he didn't know why she would offer such a deliberately awkward invitation. Luckily (or not), Ryan had just lost a brutal defeat to master Koga, and his Pokemon were all injured and such, being taken care of in the nearby PokeCenter. So, Ryan hastily declined Kelly's offer, instead propping himself up between two waiting room chairs in the hospital. She had left without another word, which hadn't caused him much concern at the time. He remained there, ever close to his three little Pokemon, and ever waiting for news of their condition.

Needless to say, he fell asleep about twenty seconds after he was left alone.

In the morning, to the good news that his Pokemon were healed, Ryan slugged awake. He had meant to get another look at this city's Nurse Joy, but apparently she was off somewhere else. Darn. She must've been beautiful. And he had no idea what she looked like. Ah, well.

A Chansey with a trolley approached him, where he still lay in his makeshift bed, and handed him his Pokemon. When inquiring as to their exact conditions, well the only response was 'Chansey, Chansey!'. One of these days, Ryan would have to learn some Pokemon languages. It would make this all so much easier. But maybe they didn't have languages. Maybe they just babbled their names to humans and one another for no reason at all. They were Pokemon. Nobody could know. He would tell Professor Oak his theory if he ever met the guy.

He could barely gripe, though. The treatment was free, and Chansey had even brought him some nice fruit bars for breakfast. He sat up, thanking the pink Pokemon before going on his way. Sliding a fruit bar out of its wrapper and into his mouth, Ryan grimaced, realizing that these were apricot flavor. He took it all back. This wasn't worth it at all.

Before leaving, Ryan made way to the free computer and rang for his mother, hoping to see how she was doing. Mother didn't answer. He decided to leave a message.

"Hey mom, it's me. Just, uh, just letting you know I'm still alive! I've been out here catching lots of Pokemon and stuff. I'll have to show you them when I get back… I hope you like them, they have great personalities… Oh, and I got a ba-"

The call cut out, with the time full. He sighed. He hadn't seen the '2 minutes for free calls' sign posted above the computer until just now. That was just great. He grabbed his bag and left.

It was raining, and the road had already become full of mud pockets by the time Ryan set out for the Gym again. This time, he had his PokeDex out, and was punching in various search queries, searching for, well, a strategy to win. He needed the badge quick, for even though he knew Kelly was long gone, he knew where she was headed, and just maybe he could find her again at the next gym… if he was quick enough here. Hopefully she wasn't mad at him for declining her previous invitation.

However, Dex was hardly useful; the only noteworthy thing it told Ryan was that he needed more Pokemon; that his Beedrill was absolutely useless. Well, thanks. He already guessed that with the Kakuna form being as horrible as it was. He turned to focus on the entry for Golduck, and looking over its known moves, he worked to memorize a logical pattern with which to use them for. His one knew blizzard and body slam, and that tail waggle attack. Golduck was easily his best Pokemon, as it had taken the collective efforts of both Abra and Matata to down him. There was no better time than a gym battle to test Golduck for the first time - if he won.

The doors were open, and Ryan was glad that no other trainers had arrived yet. He was slightly embarrassed to fight with other people watching. He stepped into the cold grove that was the battle area, squinting for a sign of Koga. There was nothing, not a single sound, aside from the rain patter coming from the door. Heck, the lights weren't even on.

"Anyone here?" Ryan yelled, his voice echoing several times.

No response came.

Slightly annoyed, Ryan ventured further inside. There was a sort of Japanese-style garden in the next room, with a great number of trees, and benches, and all that crap. As Ryan tiptoed through some tulips, he noticed a man sitting under a tree. There he was; Koga! Booyah, Ryan had passed the test and found him. Right? That's what this was. Right?

"Haha! I found you, Mr. gym leader guy!"

The scream that followed rivaled Ryan's own at Lt. Surge's gym a few days prior. Only it came from a man. A grown man. A gym leader. Koga had just screamed like a little girl. It sounded like a cat that had just discovered water. Ryan's ears were hurting bad, gee golly! Evidently, Koga hadn't expected anyone. Well, that's what he gets for leaving the door open.

"I mean… who's there?" the man stammered.

"C'mon, I'm going to get my badge now, okay?" Ryan said, grinning. "Look at how good I am now. I've really learned!"

The master saw it to be Ryan, who's defeat yesterday was fresh in his mind, "Ah… very well, let me just turn on the lights," Koga scowled.

"Great!"

The two moved out to the secondary battle arena because they battled in the other one yesterday and it would be boring to fight there again. Don't question me! Lining up, the two readied their Pokeballs. Koga yawned. Ryan smiled. He had just thought up a really cool thing to say.

"Don't worry, I'll wake you up!"

Ryan went scarlet faster than… well, I don't have a proper comparison for that. Let's just say that Ryan was mightily embarrassed upon hearing himself utter those words which had sounded so much better in his head. He was grateful that Koga either hadn't heard him or hadn't cared. He couldn't tell which. Koga was pretty stoic, yeah. So, on with the fight. The man threw his ball, and in turn, Ryan threw his. It was time to see how good Golduck was.

Koga nodded to Ryan, "You remember Venomoth."

"No, I don't. They all look the same to me!"

"Well, I'm sure you'll remember him after this! Venomoth, psychic attack now!"

The flying moth of veno-metric proportions flew toward Golduck. Ryan had only a few seconds. He thought back to five minutes ago when he'd looked up Golduck's attacks. That was a long time ago. He barely remembered any of it. But… yes! The most powerfulest attack, he remembered.

"Golduck, blizzard, go! Yeah!"

The time discrepancy caught up to Golduck painfully, as Venomoth's attack had already come flying forward. A flash of light, and Golduck was thrown backward like a turtle on its back. Struggling to get up, Golduck was taking his sweet time. Koga was already shouting out 'Toxic attack!'

"Come on, Golduck…"

But this toxic attack was seen by Golduck at the last minute. The blue Pokemon dove aside, dodging it just in time, and landing right below Venomoth, who helpfully stayed still for Golduck. Then, Ryan's Pokemon began twirling its arms, and like magic, a blizzard just came up out of nowhere. Ryan loved how Pokes could do that.

Soon shards of ice and a full on tornado engulfed the two Pokemon. The Venomoth let out a scream a second later as it was thrown from the Blizzard, and onto the ground. There it lay like a delicious sack of potatoes, all frozen and stuff.

"Venomoth, get up!" Koga demanded. "Sleep powder attack! Now!"

But Venomoth was sluggish, and as it tried to perform a sleep powder attack, it missed again, hitting nothing but the floorboards (who, I'm sure, appreciated the rest).

Ryan grinned. He had them now. Sticking a single finger out in a gesture to the fallen Pokemon, Ryan yelled, "Golduck, body slam 'em. Kay?"

"Gol-duck!"

He sprinted over to Venomoth, and loyally jumped in the air, stretching out his arms and legs in a perfect effort to body slam the poor ugly beast. Well, it looked like more of a belly flop to Ryan. Still, the bone-crunching sound that followed the beat down was assuredly loud, and not even Koga could deny that Venomoth was done. Yes! Finally, a Pokemon that could use its claws. Ryan would have to remember that.

Shaking his head, Koga returned his first Pokemon, and readied his second ball.

But, no no no. It was all wrong. Golduck looked to be in one heck of a bad time. How? He'd just won. It couldn't have been… oh, no, Ryan though. It was a belly flop, yep. Now Golduck was not even looking at whoever Koga had sent out, and was just rolling around on the floor grabbing his poor stomach and screaming out in pain. Shucks.

"Gotta return him, then…" Ryan muttered to the audience.

As he did so, he looked up and saw the new opponent was a Koffing. Aw, heck. Koffings were unbelievably powerful. In all the shows he'd watch as a kid, Koffings were always the bad guys, always the final bosses and stuff. And they wouldn't be if they weren't beasts! He thought to himself for who to use. Well, it was an easy decision. Matata was just a Beedrill. He had Abra!

"Go Abra go!" he spoke.

Abra had learned well from Ryan's style of training. Thank Snorlax. This time he was awake when Ryan called him. To Ryan, that meant the world.

"Ra? Abra'a ra."

"Oh, thanks for telling me, Abra. Now go use psychic on that deadly Koffing!"

"Abra?"

"Come on, just go!"

Abra did so, turning his head to find the Pokemon when Koffing hit him like a train out of Nantucket. It was a pretty brutal tackle. Abra went spiraling, doing several impressive cartwheels before sticking the landing with his face. Ryan was about to interject with his important words of encouragement, but Abra seemed on top of it. He was barely damaged. Abra had rolled over and thrown his clawed hands to the sky. Blue energy formed and shot out at Koffing, who stood there, not even looking at Abra. Couldn't blame him, though. The walls were very interesting.

The blast hit Koffing, and he let out a wheezing cough of surprise. Oh, and then he fainted. Yep, from one attack. Ryan had won this 2v2 battle like it was nothing.

"I'm so good at this!"

Koga jumped forward, returning Koffing in one fell swoop, "Very good match. You have proved yourself to me, and learned well from your mistakes of yesterd-"

"What mistakes? Come on, I want my badge!"

Koga blinked furiously, as if not believing someone so stupid could have just beaten, "Yes, here it is!" he threw the badge toward Ryan, who lunged wild and far and missed it quite acutely. "Your Pokemon are impressive. The Abra must at least be level 25."

Ryan, picking the badge from the ground, looked up, "Huh, what do you mean level 25?"

"Your Abra is highly skilled. To KO my Koffing in one hit like that, he must be very advanced. Of course, using psychic already means he has a TM. You have invested well in him."

"But humans don't have levels… what does that even mean?" Ryan asked, squint-eyed.

"It means he's long overdue to evolve. Most Abras evolve at level 16, unless they refuse… Has he refused?"

"Ra! A'ra abra abra abra! Bra ah!" Abra interjected.

Koga nodded, "I see," and that settled it, apparently. "Well, Ryan, good luck with your journey. If you are heading to Cinnabar Island, you may use the soul badge to give Golduck surf. And then ride him. That's less expensive than buying a ticket on a boat…"

"I can surf on top of Clawey?" Ryan said, barely concealing his pure, unbridled joy. "That's awesome!"

"Clawey?" asked Koga with a raised brow.

"Yeah, that's Golduck's new name. Cool, huh?"

Koga was no master of lying, that was for sure. But Ryan was too happy to notice. He ran out of that gym in chipper spirits, not only for knowing that he'd just bested another leader with his grand ol' skill, but that now he could ride on Golduck like a surfboard. That's all he'd ever dreamt of doing.

* * *

><p>No worries. That's what it meant. He had just got his second badge, and now he was walking down an abandoned trail toward the water. Ryan had all three of his Pokes out, like one parades around in a showy tee shirt. There was just one problem. Nobody was around.<p>

Humming to himself, and ignoring the deep philosophical conversations Clawey and Matata were having behind, he came to a break in the road, with a path pointing either way, and a huge tree in front of him. There wasn't just a tree, either. He saw something. It was a Pokemon! All of the others stopped upon seeing it, and Ryan squatted down on the ground. You know, the better to hide from it.

The Pokemon was a long, slender thing. Blue and white, and it had – no joke – wings for ears, and a horn for a nose. Ryan thrust his Dex out to get a reading. But Dex was being difficult, by gum.

"There is no Pokemon in range."

"Dex, I'm looking right at it. Are you blind or something?" Ryan asked.

"There is no Pokemon in range."

"Ahh!" Ryan put the Pokedex away and turned to his spectators. "You guys see it, right? Right?"

"Ra."

"Duck, golduck."

"Eeieineneieine."

Yeah, they saw it. That is exactly what they just said.

Ryan knew what that called for; a Pokeball to the face. Pulling one from his belt, Ryan did a reverse ballerina spin, twirled his arms, and swung back his arm for a fierce overhand throw. He was so good at this. He should be a professional. The ball hit the dang animal directly in the face! But… wait. It didn't capture it. The ball didn't even open. And the Pokemon didn't seem one bit phased by being hit in the face with a foreign object. There was one thing, however. It could just be a coincidence, but as the ball had hit this Pokemon's face, an errant yell rang through the woods. Some little girl was pretty darn angry.

The bushes rustled, and up came the girl. She threw the Pokemon off of her shoulders and sprinted down to the onlookers with a look that could kill a mongoose.

"Hey, what's the big deal? Can't you see I'm tracking Traxus Rex!"

Ryan did not, of course, "Who?"

"Traxus Rex! My Dragonite! I was so close to getting him. Can't you just go away, creep?"

"Hey, I was just trying to catch the snake-with-wings-for-ears… I didn't know you were tracking him."

"That? Oh you mean Percival Scrawnius Tazomarius. He's just a stuffed animal."

"Then why were you going out in public with it?" asked Ryan, innocently enough.

"Hey! Don't question me. I was tracking Traxus Rex!"

"You already said that," Ryan rolled his eyes, rather annoyed. "Look, just move out of the way, little girl, so I can catch ol' snakey."

"He has a name, you know! It's Trax-"

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan waved her away and took up point. He had just seen some movement. The real stuffed animal was on the move. No wait, that wasn't right. Stuffed animals weren't real. He glanced back over to the girl. Well, maybe not for most people. But there was another creature moving and it wasn't the stuffed animal. It had the same ears and nose. This was the real one.

"Hey, hello? Are you listening to me?"

Ryan whispered back at her trying to hide his annoyance, "No, I'm about to catch Thurnax."

"WHAT?" she screeched. "His name is Traxus Rex! You can't change that. I already named him like a year ago. That's not fair!"

"I don't like that name, so it's not gonna be his name," Ryan explained, simply.

"Hey, he's not yours!" she said, pushing out of her way, and running to grab her stuffed animal.

"He will be," Ryan shook his head, and took Dex back out. Now that he saw the real animal slinking about in the brush, he pointed toward it.

"Dragonair. According to a witness, its body was surrounded by a strange aura that gave it a mystical look."

"A dragon! Yeah! All right, let's get it," he said to his Pokemon congregation.

"Oh no you don't," came a voice high and shrill, "I'll fight you to protect him!"

It was the girl.

"Seriously? I've beat two whole gyms. There's no way you're better than me," Ryan countered, proudly.

"I don't care about those. Gyms are for stupid people. Anyone can get all the badges. But my Grandmother says I'm an explorer," she beamed, "so I'm doing things you couldn't even think of! Oh, and I'm Sophia by the way!" she added in a breathless, irrelevant, rage-inducing quip.

She drew her Pokeballs. And while Ryan prepared himself, he could only think of how much he missed Kelly.


	6. Yes, A Bubble

Here was a girl, a crazy girl, who wore a cornucopia of vibrant colors plastered around her body. She snatched her precious stuffed animal – who's name Ryan could not possibly remember – into her hands, all while beaming furiously towards him. Clearly, she had been using it to lure out a real Pokemon of the same species; one that she wanted to catch. There it was now, slithering through the bushes much like a snake. But it was much more graceful than any one-eyed snake could be, Ryan knew that for sure. It was a Dragon. It was a Dragonair. And Ryan would catch it.

The small girl's face contorted into an expression which complimented her attire of clown vomit quite nicely. Seeing the boy opposite her throw his attention toward the bush made her react in reflex to save what was rightfully hers. She snatched, quickly, three dragon balls from her sparkling belt and threw them toward Ryan (though if one was a keen observer, one might reckon she had thrown them at him). Out popped three of the finest Pokemon this Pokeworld had to offer. Ryan quickly scanned them with his PokeDex, finding them to be a Vaporeon, a Drowzee, and a Spearow. Blimey, Ryan thought. These would be his greatest test yet.

Still, as he stepped forward to combat Sophia's army, Ryan felt a sense of calm rush over his body; an air of confidence, if you will. He looked down to his three, equal, Pokemon standing on either side. He nodded to them, before throwing his voice back to the girl:

"Abra, abra bra ah abra!" Ryan shouted to, unsurprisingly, Abra. His Pokemon nodded back, and then jumped like twenty-seven feet toward the enemies.

"Golduuuuuck! Duck duck duck!" Ryan screamed again, this time causing Clawey to spring up in likewise action.

"Ieiieieeeeeeieheiiehsieh!" Ryan bellowed, shaking the very trees that stood around them. Since Matata was a flying Pokemon, she couldn't really jump twenty-seven feet like the others, so she just flew there.

Ryan's confidence in speaking in PokeTongues had disallowed him knowledge of what his Pokemon were actually doing, or if their strategies were paying off, but that was unimportant. The real goal of any trainer was to just catch 'em all. So he let his Pokemon do their thing, and turned his attention toward that slithering snake. He got down on all fours, and began stalking it like any good trainer would do. He found the Dragonair to be so slow, that even in his crouch-walking through the bushes, Ryan could easily gain on it. When he was within a few feet, he pounced, jumping on the creature, wrapping his two little arms around it, and swinging himself back and forth in a manner not unlike someone trying to extinguish themselves from being on fire.

He tackled that beast good. After a few rolls, Ryan heard the Dragonair cry out, and go limp. Puzzled by this, Ryan sat up, and peered forward. Then did he see a large bloody gash on the Pokemon's otherwise light belly. It was a fresh, open wound, as it still bled. Ryan noticed he too had been doused in the creature's blood. But that did not concern him. He had seen it wounded, and that was enough for the boy to lose his whimsical disposition. Ryan jumped up, and ran to the Dragonair's head.

Kneeling down, he spoke softly, "Hey, you're hurt… Oh, jeez. That's pretty bad. We need to get you to a Pokecenter!"

"Neeeee..." it groaned.

"Here," Ryan said, taking out a spare Pokeball, "Let me catch you, and I can take you to one."

"Neeee! Eee!" it whined in distress, pulling away from Ryan as far as it could.

"It's not a trick, I swear. Please… you'll die if I don't help." Ryan said, exacerbated. The Pokemon didn't seem to believe him, as it continued to slowly pull itself away from him. Ryan stood up and followed it, this time raising his voice, "Look, I just want to help! I won't keep you if you don't want. We'll just take you to the PokeCenter to get you fixed, and if you don't want to stay with me, I won't make you! You can go back into the wild once you're better! I'm just trying to help."

At this, the Dragonair stopped, and quipped softly before turning to Ryan. It raised its long head off the turf, to the trainer's height, and stared into his eyes. He could see it fighting to even stand up, for its wound had made the creature exhausted. Though he didn't fully know the meaning of this gesture, Ryan took it as what he had hoped. Raising trembling his hand with the Pokeball in it, he opened it; in an instant, the dragon Pokemon closed its eyes, and let itself be sucked inside.

Pocketing the Pokeball, Ryan ran back to the trail only to find his three Pokemon in the midst of a battle. He would be lying had he said he remembered what they were doing. So much had happened since he had sent them to battle Sophia and her minions. He noticed his Pokemon were completely dominating Sophia's. Yet, he didn't have time to gloat over the pompous girl.

"Guys, we have to go! Now!" Ryan shouted.

The three looked up with faces of 'oh come on!', but seeing the pressing concern of their master, stopped the slaughter. Abra and Co. jumped off of the beaten Drowzee, Vaporeon, and Spearow and loyally followed their master off.

Evidently insulted by the sudden lack of attention, Sophia pouted her lips and chased them down.

"Stop! You can't just leave right when I was about to beat you!"

Ryan shrugged her off and continued jogging ahead.

"Hey, hello?! Are you listening to me?"

Ryan sighed and slowed to a walk, "Look, I have to go. It was great battling you, but we'll have to finish that later."

"Ha!" Sophia proclaimed proudly, victory flush in her face, "I knew it! You're running away, coward! You couldn't beat me. Yes! That means Traxus Rex is mine!"

"Who?" Ryan asked.

"The Dragonair, you dummy," she responded with contempt.

"Cool. By the way, do you know where the nearest PokeCenter is?"

Sophia stopped her jubilation for a second to process the question. "You can either go to Fuschia City or Cinnabar Island."

Ryan shook his head. "Well, I just came from Fuschia City, and that's pretty far back."

"Then go to Cinnabar Island!" Sophia said, again using her contemptuous voice, "It's just that way, south. You can't miss it. All you need is a Pokemon with surf to get there."

"Okay."

Then, Sophia stepped forward, with her chin thrust up. Lo, the jubilation had returned "See, arentcha glad I was here? After I beat you so gracefully (because my grandmother told me that's how a proper princess should act), I was so nice telling you how to get to Cinnabar Island!"

"That's great," Ryan said, barely paying attention to the babbling.

Sophia started twirling around, spinning her vibrant clothes in a whirlwind. She closed her eyes and raised her arms as she did so, because that's what all self-proclaimed princesses do. "You're lucky I'm so smart. My IQ says I'm a genius, really! I got it tested you know!" She said, humming between sentences.

But when Sophia opened her eyes, Ryan, and all his Pokemon were gone. She sighed something about him leaving out of shame, then went back to collect her stuffed animal, and go catch that Traxus Rex.

* * *

><p>Ryan hadn't felt obligated to tell Sophia that he had taken the Dragonair already, because she was as annoying as the trees were green. He stood on the edge of the water, looking out to the sea. It was a remarkably clear day, and had been since he had left Sophia. Heck, he could see Cinnabar Island from where he stood.<p>

Returning Abra and Matata to their Pokeballs, Ryan instead focused on Clawey, his Golduck. Being that Clawey had the move surf, this was Ryan's only option to get to the island other than paying for it; and he didn't have much money to be spent frivolously.

"All right, Clawey. We need to get to that island way out there. So you'll use surf on the water, and I will ride on you, and it will all work out, ok?"

"Duck, gol," Clawey whimpered.

"Great! Let's go!"

Ryan climbed on top of Clawey, and pointed ahead, directing his steed into the sparkling water of this glorious summer day. Now, Golducks are small beasts, closer to the size of a lynx than a water-horse or luxurious yacht. So, the mounting and riding was more than a little awkward. The Golduck grumbled mightily as the unfathomable weight of his master pressed down upon his meager shoulders. Ryan assured him they would stop for nothing, which did partially alleviate Golduck's hapless state. He just hoped they wouldn't find any water Pokemon out there who would cause the them problems. Then, Clawey went off, surfing through the water with his master on top.

It was an hour later that the vastly oversized Ryan riding the vastly undersized Pokemon came surfing into Cinnabar Island at top speed being chased by numerous Tentacools and Tentacruels. Surely, their trip had not gone unnoticed, and had it not been for Clawey's speed, they would have surely died. As the two barreled in, Clawey's momentum was too much to cancel out. The result left Ryan flung from the back of his loyal steed, and into the sandy beach of Cinnabar. While the boy himself was sunburnt, hungry, and sporting many scrapes from the landing, he gave no pause – instead, returning Clawey to his ball, and running ahead, to the entrance of the only city he could see.

There was a PokeCenter near the center of the island, where Ryan dropped the wounded Dragonair off. Nurse Joy gave him a precise time of 'several hours' for it to be healed, so Ryan went to the adjoining PokeMart and bought several healing potions, some Pokefood, and a few new Pokeballs with the money he had won from besting Koga. Then, settling down, he went to a restaurant to deal with his rumbling stomach. After ordering a sandwich, guilt overtook Ryan, and he let his three Pokemon out, and fed them too.

As the four sat there, conversing (which was more like Ryan hoping his Pokemon could understand him), there came a person who sat down on the table next to him. And her face was known to Ryan, it sure was.

"Kelly!" Ryan beamed, smiling and waving to the older girl.

"Huh? Oh, it's you. You finally got here. Took you long enough," she said, quietly.

"Hey! You were the one who disappeared after we beat Koga," he reminded her.

She shook her head, her long pink hair waving violently from side to side. "I never thought you would beat him. There was no point waiting. Besides, you didn't even want to stay in the room with me. So I thought you were going off on your own adventure."

"Naw," said Ryan, laughing, "I was just worried about my Pokemon was all. I guess it doesn't matter. We're just here for another badge, right? You prolly have yours already. Maybe after I get this one, you won't run off again. That would be awesome."

Kelly slumped her shoulders, and looked down, shaking her head. "No, I didn't beat Blaine yet. His fire Pokemon are strong, Ryan. My Wartortle was no match. I'm going to have to train for a few days here so I can go back to beat him."

"Well then, can I train with you too? My Golduck probably could use some extra practice. And that'll give the Dragonair plenty of time to heal!"

Kelly looked up, with her mouth agape, "Dragonair? You caught a Dragonair?"

"I didn't really catch him. The deal was he'd get in the Pokeball and I would take him to the nearest Pokecenter to get healed."

"You're such an idiot," Kelly breathed.

"What, why?" Ryan replied, genuinely confused.

"It's not your Dragonair if you didn't catch it."

"I-"

Kelly leaned back in her chair. "Look kid, it doesn't matter. Maybe you'll keep it, maybe you won't. But you didn't catch a Dragonair. Let's just finish eating so we can go train."

Ryan obliged, and hastily consumed his food. Thereafter, he accompanied Kelly down to the beach, where they had a nice walk before finding a place to set up at. He let out his Pokemon again, to socialize with Kelly's. While that went on, the two trainers agreed it would be a waste of their precious money to pay for another hotel, so they set up sleeping bags above the tide, and drew up plans for how to improve their Pokemon by flashlight, throughout the night.

Perhaps it was his mind playing tricks on him, but Ryan swore that, as the sun set, and everyone started drifting off to bed, he saw something in the sky. If he had to describe it, he would have said it was a pink bubble, and a large one at that. He noticed it fly about in the sky for a while, and it seemed to be playing – like a young bird plays with a walnut. And the thing started to drift closer and closer to the camp as time progressed. As Ryan fell to sleep though, he thought he saw two large eyes looking at him through the pink bubble. No, that couldn't be right, he thought. He must be dreaming.


	7. Decidedly Mild

The next day, the two trainers arose and began planning for Blaine, the fire gym leader. As he was one of the most experienced trainers – and the two had but a single water Pokemon apiece – they were forced into bettering those Pokemon through battling one another. After a few hours of Wartortle and Golduck's workout, though, the two decided to take a break. Being so near the island's volcano, they decided to go explore that, because the story's plot demands it.

After an uneventful travel across the black beach, toward a muddy grotto at the base of the great volcano, the two noticed a crack in rock-face. Peering in, they noticed a large, hollowed out cave, with crags of magma flowing about. And in the center, huddled together in a collective ball, were a slew of red Pokemon. Ryan's heart skipped a beat as he unconsciously grabbed his Pokedex and pointed it at the group of red animals.

"Charmeleon, the Flame Pokemon. Tough fights could excite this Pokémon. When excited, it may blow out bluish-white flames."

"Yes!" Ryan yelled, pumping his fist into the air, "I've always wanted one of these! You know, Charmeleon evolves from Charmander, who's my favorite starter, Kelly."

The older girl ignored him.

"Fine then. I'm busy catching Pokemon, anyway. Matata, I choose you!" Ryan unhooked Matata's Pokeball, then did a masterful spin before chucking her through the small looking hole. Upon letting her out, he quickly ordered her to use focus energy on the nearest Charmeleon.

The move had little effect aside from waking one of the beasts and making it sleepily, lazy, quiet growl toward Matata's general vicinity. This formidable attack left Matata shivering and quite scared. It was a fearsome growl!

"Now use fury attack, Matata!"

Matata obeyed, and roared toward the creature. Charmeleon was taken aback by the speed of the Beedrill; it was quickly overcome by several quick hits. Charmeleon stumbled back after the fourth hit and retaliated with a quick ember attack. Matata was hit head on, and after being engulfed by the flames, fainted.

And despite Ryan's surprise, Kelly, who was watching the fight unfold, simply laughed. "You really don't know anything about Pokemon, do you?"

"Why would you say that?" Ryan retorted with a look of sheer displeasure.

"If you did, you would know that bug types are weak against fire. We went over this this morning. Water beats fire. It's how we'll beat Blaine. You should have used Golduck against Charmeleon if you wanted one so bad."

"Well, I'm not done anyway!" Ryan said, his face flushed. "Go old faithful!"

Like a magnificent geyser, Abra shot forth from his Pokeball. He landed in the cave, scratching the back of his head and yawning. "Brah? Rah rah Abra!"

Ryan nodded. _Yeah Abra, tell them who's boss_. _Sing it sister_.

Suddenly, like a fly hitting a windshield, Abra was engulfed by red hot flames. "Abraaaaa!" he screamed in pain and surprise. The villainous Charmeleon was standing fierce, opposite of the psychic Pokemon. He was not about to be caught without a fight.

"Oh jeez!" Ryan said in shock. "A-abra, are you okay?"

"Ra!" replied Abra, extra crispy. The smell of him made Ryan's mouth water.

"Okay, then use Thunder Wave!" Ryan commanded, pointing to the Charmeleon.

His Abra obeyed and shot the electricity from him like he was a proper pikapi. Charmeleon just sat there and absorbed the shock and was also shocked. It was incredible. The yellow bolts jumped across his body like fleas and soon Charmeleon fell to his knees and howled out in pain.

Ryan whooped a good whoop. "Ha! Charmeleon is paralyzed! It may be unable to move," he recited, his finger up.

"Great job. You're the best trainer in the Pokeworld," Kelly breathed out. She didn't seem like she meant it.

He ignored her. Now was the time to fulfill Ryan's destiny. Now was the time for Ryan to get the starter he had always wanted. "Now, Pokeball, go and catch me my new 'mon!"

The blue-haired trainer threw a ball towards the paralyzed Charmeleon as if he were an Olympic athlete. Yet the ball landed a good 15 feet in front of the fire lizard. Must've been the wind. Ryan scowled.

"Hey, you, get over here!" he hollered to the Charmeleon. The Pokemon just looked at him and let out a low growl, though his paralysis seemed to be holding him back. In but a moment, Ryan went from being a winner to a crestfallen little non-winner. How was he to get Charmeleon now? That cave was dark, hot, dangerous, scary. No way he could step in there. Then he spied Abra, his old friend; his true friend; his shield; his sword.

"Abra! Quickly, grab the Pokeball and throw it at Charmeleon!"

"Ra? Abra abra!" his future sweeper replied.

Ryan couldn't blame him. It was unexpected. It was unprecedented. Abra would be the Pokemon to catch a Pokemon. He would be a trailblazer, a Pokemon amongst men. It would be like a pig eating bacon if pigs existed in the Pokemon universe. He would be a legend, born today.

"Just do it, buddy-o!"

"Bra."

Abra used his psychic abilities to grab the fallen Pokeball and bring it over to his clawed hands. Then, he grasped the small ball and did a little ballerina twirl. "Abraaa ra!" he yelled, doing a double backflip as what seemed like fireworks were going off in the background. "Ra ra abra!" There was audible applause when he landed the difficult acrobatic maneuver, though from whom Ryan could not see.

He threw that ball, he did. He was Abra, king of the 'mons. He slept all day. He could learn teleport. He was the greatest there ever was. The Pokeball traveled faster than the winds over to the red lizard and as it opened, Ryan saw Charmeleon try to fight against it. But he was paralyzed, so he couldn't do anything. What a shame. Soon, a red light covered the Pokemon's visage, and after a flash, he was safely in the ball. Abra picked it up, showed a peace sign to the camera and then scampered back to Ryan.

"Aw, Abra, you did it!" Ryan was jubilant. He was ecstatic. "You're number one, buddy!" he patted Abra on the head. "And you're number forty-seven for doubting me," he sneered at Kelly.

She rolled her eyes and bit her lip.

* * *

><p>After a short trip to the PokeCenter, Ryan and Kelly returned to the beach with the intent of training up their Pokemon for old Blaine the Bold. The sun was already beginning to set, but the air was still warm, smelling of salt and promise. Ryan was a bit anxious, for he only had one water Pokemon. Matata would be useless against Blaine's fearsome guys. Abra and his Charmeleon wouldn't be much better. So it was all up to Golduck. Ryan had briefly entertained the thought of purchasing a fishing rod, which looked like a rather old rod in truth, but he had not the Pokedollars to buy it He needed his money for more important things, like twix bars. After all, food tasted better than catching Tentacools. Contrary to popular belief, they were not all that cool.<p>

When the two reached the sand, they spied a host of people ahead. There were tents and umbrellas and loud music and beach balls and girls playing beach volleyball with naught but bikinis on. This was Ryan's type of party. He nodded their way to Kelly, who looked more annoyed than ever. But she couldn't really train her Wartortle without Ryan's help, so she bit her lip and followed him into the din of partygoers. There were dozens of them – men, women, boys, girls, and Pokemon too. Ryan got excited at that and instantly let loose all of his Pokemon with the flick of his wrist. Matata, Abra, Clawey, and Charmeleon came fluttering out. He watched them for a moment, and he realized he still needed to give Charmeleon a nickname. Maybe after the party.

Ryan gave his 'mon a few Pokedollars and told them not to waste them – for they would get no more from their fickle trainer – and then bade them off. He looked to his left and saw that Kelly was already sitting at a table and drinking from a pitcher of orange juice like a ravenous raver. So Ryan found himself alone and he started wandering through the beachgoers, searching for his own pitcher of orange juice. It was then that Ryan beheld a most glorious sight that made him stop in his tracks.

In the sand, there was a huge entity. Ryan knew what it was as soon as he saw its figure, even if he couldn't see it properly because the sun was setting right behind it and silhouetting it. "A Snorlax…" he mumbled to himself excitedly. "Cool!" He reached for his Pokeballs when he realized all his trusty pals were out and roaming about. He had no one to catch snorrey with. "Curses!" he whispered just as a girl walked in front of him. She met his eyes and looked at him like he was a lunatic. He frowned and stared back at her. She didn't know why he had yelled that. Stupid assumptive girl.

Without any Pokemon, Ryan was low on options. So he resolved to just throw a Pokeball at the Snorlax. It was sleeping, so maybe it couldn't say no to the ball. Ryan jumped in the air, putting on a dramatic performance of moves and twirls in the sand. He instantly regretted his moves, for sand got all in his shoes. He shivered. He hated that. Still, Ryan had to clear his head and focus, for he was about to catch a Pokemon he'd always wanted.

"Go get a Snorlax!"

The ball flew forward and hit the Snorlax in the side of the belly, getting stuck in one of the rolls of fat. Ryan was perplexed. He lurched forward, his mouth agape. What had just happened? Why hadn't the Pokeball opened?

"Are you serious?!" came a sudden booming, warm voice. Suddenly, the Snorlax stood up and Ryan saw that he was face-to-face with a human, not a Pokemon. "Really?" the former Snorlax said, his voice rich as honey with disbelief. He plucked the Pokeball out of his rolls of fat and handed it back to Ryan. "What were you trying to do, man?"

Ryan scratched the back of his head. "Uh, well…" he blushed. "I-I thought you were a Pokemon. Honest mistake, dude."

"Are you serious?!" the guy repeated, this time rolling his head around like a turtle and looking this way and that at everyone watching the spectacle. He had a glimmer in his eye and an incredulous smile on his bronze face. And he tugged at his sweet-as-tauros goatee with a few fingers. It clothed his chin like bikinis clothe hot girls. It really was a spectacular goatee. Ryan felt a pang of jealousy. He wanted to be able to grow a goatee like fake Snorlax."Do I look like a Pokemon?"

"Not anymore," Ryan admitted.

"Ugh!" the other replied, throwing his arms up into the air. "I wonder which Pokemon you thought I was. There's only one it could be."

"No, it's not like that," Ryan assured the big man. "You… uh… you reminded me of Mr. Mime!"

"Sure," the once-a-Snorlax replied sarcastically.

Ryan sighed. "Look man, I'm real sorry I threw a Pokeball at you. Can we just forget it?"

The other's eyes suddenly shot up like a dog's. "Deal." He thrust out his dark hand to shake Ryan's. With his other he produced a screwdriver-like device and raised it to the sky like it was a fine glass of wine. "I'm Doctor Rahul Kanojia!" he squealed out.

"Doctor… who?" Ryan asked, for he barely comprehended the outlandish name.

"Exactly!" Rahul replied. He patted Ryan on the back of his back. "Come on, let's get you a drink."

To say Ryan was confused would be like saying generation one was the best generation. He had barely heard this self-proclaimed doctor's name; and the doctor hadn't even asked for Ryan's. Was _he_ serious?

Rahul moved forward to a table, putting each arm around a girl in a bikini. He turned around and looked at Ryan, beaming. "Are you hungry?"

Before Ryan could respond, Rahul whistled. Within a moment, a breathless girl came flying onto the scene, a plate of hot wings held delicately in her hands.

"Here you go Rahul! Hope I was fast enough," she said, handing him the plate.

Rahul laughed. It was not as hearty as Ryan had expected. He took a bite out of a hot wing, spilling its sauce all over his face. He didn't even care, even though he wasn't a honey badger. He gestured for Ryan to come forward and eat off his plate of hot wings. Ryan was just in awe of Rahul's ability to whistle and summon hot wings out of nowhere. It was magic, truly. How could he learn to do that too?

Ryan sat with Rahul, learning about how great of a doctor he was and eating hot wings when suddenly, a flash of flames caught Ryan's eyes. He turned his head just in time to see a roar of flames and sand go by him. It was so close that he felt the heat and said goodbye to his eyebrows. He blinked the sand out of his eyes just in time to see the flames go rushing by again. This time he saw what it was – a girl riding a Rapidash. Ryan audibly gulped. It was a beautiful, haunting sight. She was literally riding in her mount's flames, but Ryan knew that was possible so long as the owner had the trust of the Rapidash. His father had a Rapidash too, and it was his prized Pokemon. Ryan had considered taking old Rappy instead of Abra when he set out on his journey, but he figured his father would miss his favorite Pokemon too much. He still sometimes thought about it, though he did not regret his choice in Abra, the truly loyal steed.

The girl riding the Rapidash was not much older than Ryan. She had blond hair and green eyes, and she was scantily clad. She looked like she was wet, as if she had just been spit out by the ocean. In each hand, she had a shot glass and she was doing shots of apple juice. Ryan admired her skill. Crowds of people had encircled her and now they were cheering as she rode the Rapidash around in skillful fashion. Ryan entertained the thought of running up to her and asking for a ride, but he quickly reminded himself that he was a part of society, and that was not something people in society do. So Ryan sat down, ate some more hot wings, and admired Rahul's unrivaled goatee. He just wanted to tug on it like one tugs on grass.

As Ryan was sitting on a bench with Rahul and Rahul's two token babes (whom Rahul, in all his physical Snorlax likeness had somehow managed to woo), he spotted his recently acquired Charmeleon. Pride swelled up in Ryan's throat. He had caught that Pokemon all by himself. He was amazing; he was the best. He was a true Pokemon master.

"Hey Charmeleon, come here!" Ryan shouted. The Charmeleon looked at Ryan but did not move. Perhaps it didn't hear him. So Ryan flailed his arms about as if he were having a seizure and flung himself into the sand like a fish out of water. Sure enough, the Pokemon understood that and trotted over.

"Charmeleon!" Ryan said, proudly. "I caught him today!"

Doctor Rahul took a bite out of a hot wing. He grunted in pleasure at its taste. Hot grease ran down his mouth into his goatee and he seemed like he loved it.

"Now let's give you a nickname," Ryan began, taking out his PokeDex. "All right, Dexxy. I want to give Charmeleon a nickname."

"This Charmeleon already has a nickname," the Pokedex stated.

Rahul took another bite out of his hot wing. Grease and sauce splattered on his face. He smiled. He was happy. Perhaps eating hot wings was his natural state. And whenever anyone walked by, he would raise his left hand, which held the screwdriver-like device in it and wink at the passerby. It made him look homely and homeless at the same time.

"No way!" said Ryan. "He was a wild Pokemon. He couldn't have a nickname. Lemme name him already!"

"This Charmeleon already has a nickname," the Pokedex stated a second time.

"No! His name is supposed to be Aegon! Do you hear me, Dexxy? Make his name Aegon! I command you!"

"This Charmeleon already has a nickname," the Pokedex stated a third time.

Rahul sucked the succulent meat off of the bone of his little hot wing. He was surgical, precise, deliberate with every bite. This was not his first hot wing. He was a master in his own right, well learned and masterfully trained in the art of eating these little treats. Hot grease ran down his lips into his goatee. He smiled in pleasure. Hot wings did taste good.

Ryan was getting annoyed now. "How?! He's wild!"

"This Charmeleon already has a nickname," the Pokedex stated a fourth time.

"I know, I know!" Ryan shouted, banging his Pokedex on his thigh. "At least tell me what his nickname is!"

Rahul found another hot wing under the house of bones he had created with the ones he had already consumed. His little fingers started going real fast and his face lit up as if he had just won a million Pokedollars. He quickly grabbed the hot wing and took a voracious bite out of the cooked flesh. Hot grease ran down Rahul's face into his goatee and he moaned out in pleasure of eating his food. The two girls in their bikinis just sat next to Rahul like statues, as if they couldn't – nay, wouldn't – see what was going on between them. Playing beach volleyball wouldn't be nearly as fun as watching a Snorlax wannabe tear into hot wings without respite.

"Charmeleon's nickname is 'Get Over Here'," Ryan's Pokedex spoke in monotone.

"What?!" Ryan screamed so loud that everyone around stopped what they were doing to stare at him for exactly four seconds before returning to their personal activities. "How is that his nickname?"

"Dontcha 'member," a slurred voice spoke up from just behind Ryan's ear. "Thass what you called 'im when ya caught him," Kelly nodded in a lethargic way. Her eyes were glazed and she was covered in sweat.

"Kelly?!" Ryan squinted his eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"Oh, nothin'… juss had a little too much orange juice!" she stated proudly before hiccupping. "You… you came up with a really great name for Charmey. Really great. I love it. I love you."

"Okay, okay. That's enough!" Ryan raised his arms and stood up. He pocketed his Pokedex and grabbed the pink-haired girl by the shoulders. "Kelly, I need to get you back to our tent. You're really in no condition to stay here."

She laughed and drank some more orange juice.

Ryan thrust his face into his palm. "Come on, let's go!" He turned to Rahul. "And it was nice meeting you, Doctor Rahalakanijiwali."

Rahul raised his screwdriver to the sky, hot grease pouring down his face into his goatee.

Ryan then helped the stumbling Kelly away. "Come on Charmeleon, let's go home!"

"Meleon," it replied in deadpan, crossing its wee arms.

Ryan scowled. "Fine. Come on, Get Over Here!"

The fire lizard barked and then ran on all fours over to his new master with happy vigor. Ryan sighed. At least he had a Charmeleon now. That was better than nothing.


	8. Sweet

Ryan awoke to the sounds of distant music and cheering. He got up, stumbled out of his tent, furiously blinking his blurry eyes into clarity. Peering out of his tent flap, Ryan noticed the beach partying was still going on into the early morning. The sun was barely rising across the cool water, and still there was party music blaring out across the otherwise serene beach. Squinting, Ryan could see the far-off shapes of people dancing about and a flaming Rapidash galloping through the sand.

Ryan stole a look over to the tent next to his. There was no movement coming from within it. Maybe Kelly was sleeping. That would be good. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with her in all her orange-juice-deprived glory. So Ryan slipped on a pair of sandals, grabbed his Pokeballs, and decided to visit Cinnabar Island's town just for the heck of it. He soon found the town deserted, save for a drowsy-looking Drowzee who was stumbling about with a tin can of long-expired beans in its hand. Ryan passed the Pokemon and made his way to the town's Poke Mart. Once inside, he let out all four of his super cool 'mon and let them run around to their hearts' content. They went screaming around the aisles, grabbing for candy bars and shiny objects and other cool gadgets. Ryan left them and strode up to the counter, where a burly, somnolent man manned the register.

Reaching the counter, Ryan noticed a poster hanging on the nearest wall. It had a picture of a boy slightly younger than him riding a Porygon. Below it was a bounty for two million woolongs. Ryan walked over to the paper and eyed it carefully.

"Who's this?" he asked the cashier.

"Some kid. He's been terrorizing the mainland with his fearsome team of Pokemon. If ya ever find him during your travels, defeat him in battle and then hand him over to any Officer Jenny for a big reward."

"I'll remember to do that when I return to Kanto. I'm a great trainer, so it shouldn't be a problem," Ryan replied. A few extra Pokedollars would be great for his pocket. He just wondered what the conversion rate from woolongs was.

"You wanna be the very best?" the cashier asked inquisitively.

The boy's eyes sparkled like a shooting star. "Like no one ever was!"

The man's own eyes narrowed, unconvinced. "To catch them is your real test, huh?"

"Well," Ryan shrugged modestly,"to train them is my cause. Anyway, I need some new Pokefood for my buddies," Ryan continued. "I caught a Charmeleon yesterday, so I need whatever he eats."

The man grunted and pulled up some bags of food from behind the counter. One for Abra, one for Matata, one for Charmeleon. Ryan never bought Clawey any food because he liked to catch Magikarp in the ocean. As Ryan went to pay for the food, his Pokemon came running up to him, each with several items in their hands.

"Brah… abra ra! Abra!" Abra squeaked, brandishing two candy bars like swords in front of his master. Ryan chuckled and plucked them from Abra's claws and added them to his purchases. Abra was wearing a pair of black, pointed sunglasses that he evidently wanted as well, and after thirteen minutes of pleading, Ryan finally agreed to buy them.

"Shieieieieieilaahahahahaha!" Matata had her mouth full of candy, and Ryan quickly ripped the precious sweets from her teeth before she could tear through the wrappers.

"Duck duck duuuuck!" Clawey was dancing around with a pair of maracas, which made Ryan wonder if the blue animal had taken a sip from the orange juice as well. Still, he put them on the counter for Ryan did not want to upset his most valuable Golduck.

"Meleon, char!" Get Over Here barked as he came sidling up wearing a top hat and sporting a fine antique monocle. Ryan was left in awe by the fact that the Poke Mart even carried such arcane merchandise. Begrudgingly, he added them to the pile. The noble trainer also grabbed a small bottle of advil for Kelly when she woke up. She'd owe him big for that. Real big.

"That'll be 1300 Pokedollars," the cashier said in his dreary voice after counting up all the things on the counter.

Ryan sighed and pulled out his wallet. Inside, he found exactly 1300 Pokedollars. "Oh come on!" he yelled to no one in particular. The cashier thrust out his hand, his fingers working the open space like he was tickling a Tauros' tummy. "Okay, okay. Chill out man," Ryan growled in annoyance. He handed the crisp Pokedollars to the cashier, gathered up his purchases, and then high-tailed it out of there. He was a penniless trainer. He was quite literally without pennies. Even one penny would be a great uptick in his wealth at this point.

Ryan returned to his camp and found Kelly sitting just outside her tent. He threw her the bottle of advil and a candy bar.

"Hey," she said hoarsely. "Where were you?"

"At the Poke Mart."

"Found anything good?" she asked, looking at Abra's sunglasses, Get Over Here's top hat, and Clawey's maracas. She suddenly burst out laughing but then groaned and felt her head. She probably had a massive migraine after her escapades last night.

"Some stuff, I guess. And Kelly, you should take that advil right now. It'll help with the hangover."

Kelly went red. "I don't have a hangover!"

Ryan shrugged. "Whatever. Advil and water's what my dad used to take when he got hungover. Trust me, I know how to deal with this stuff."

Kelly just gave him the stink eye. She was well-practiced in that maneuver.

"So I need to challenge Blaine now," Ryan spoke. "After that last trip to the store, I'm dead broke."

"But we aren't done training Golduck and Wartortle!" Kelly objected.

"So? They're water Pokemon. They should win. Besides, they've already been through a lot of training together. I'm sure they're way stronger than before."

"We only have one water Pokemon apiece, Ryan. Blaine uses three fire Pokemon in his Gym Battles."

Ryan scratched the back of his head. "Well, how badly did you lose when you fought him last time?"

"I took out his Ninetails and Rapidash, but his Arcanine defeated me."

"Well, then use your other Pokemon too."

"He had already taken out 'Aichu and Fluffy," Kelly admitted. "Tortilla was the only one who managed to do some serious damage."

"Who are those ones again?" Ryan asked, puzzled. How could he possibly be bothered to know what Kelly's nicknames for her Pokemon were?

"Raichu and Arcanine, of course. My Wartortle is my only chance, Ryan. If he's not strong enough…" Kelly trailed off, looking out over the cool ocean. "Maybe I could catch another one."

"Yeah, you go do that. That'll be great! I believe in you!" Ryan shouted, punching his fist into the air. Once he finished, he supposed that he had overreacted a bit. Who knows, though.

"You aren't going to listen to me, are you? You're going to challenge Blaine no matter what I say?"

Ryan screwed up his face. He had to look like a hero. He was born to be a hero, not to mention a winner. He had to act like it. "Yeah! Just after this candy bar!" His face softened. "Look, Kelly. I need the badge of course, but the money's even more important right now. Unless you want to fish Tentacool out of the ocean, we'll need money to buy more food. These candy bars won't last forever. "

Kelly couldn't argue with Ryan's statement because Ryan was a master debater and she was just Kelly. So Ryan, happy with his verbal victory, took a fierce victory bite out of the nearest candy bar (getting his daily dose of sweet, sweet chocolate) as he looked off into the distance. He saw the partyers still going at it, but he didn't see the Rapidash anymore. _Rapidash._ He wondered if that beast belonged to Blaine. If that was the case, then who was that pretty girl riding it?

* * *

><p>Ryan found a long list of trainers outside of the Cinnabar Island gym. Most of them were looking pretty depressed, as if they had just eaten a ghost pepper for the third time in their lives. A good deal of them were missing their eyebrows, and their faces were lined with light burn and soot marks. Ryan was sure that was from either the pepper or the gym, but he wasn't sure which one.<p>

Just outside the door was a familiar face - Doctor Rahul Kanalanapia. The bronze-skinned dude was basking in the sunlight and eating a plate of barbecue ribs. The sauce was all over his mouth and cheeks and neck and hot grease was running down his finely-combed beard. Even as his stomach growled in protest, Ryan smiled. Rahul was so cool. What a guy.

"Hey Rahul," Ryan said, waving towards the behemoth of a trainer with one of Clawey's maracas' in each hand. Assuredly, Ryan was sporting the attire all of his Pokemon had picked out earlier, so the regal top hat, monocle, and sharp black sunglasses, supported by the maracas and his regular clothes was clearly a queer sight indeed. Ryan thought it looked great, though; just great. He hadn't had a sip of the orange juice, no sir. He was going to impress Blaine with his swag. He would get that old man to holla holla.

"Oh hey… Ryan, right?" Rahul croaked, barely looking up at the boy or noticing his pristine appearance.

"You remembered! Great job!" Ryan said, giving Rahul two thumbs up. "Did you beat Blaine yet?"

"Blaine? No no no. I beat Olivia," Rahul corrected Ryan with a barbeque-plagued finger. "She really wasn't that hard, y'know?"

Ryan was as confused as a Ponyta on a treadmill. "Oh, I thought Blaine was the Fire Pokemon master…"

"Well, you thought wrong," Rahul said before taking a deep bite out of one of his ribs. He grunted softly to himself in deep pleasure after tasting the sweet meat. Ryan couldn't stop his mouth from watering. Curse living on candy bars!

"Okay, well I'll be back out in a little bit. I need to defeat this Gym Leader first. I hafta get the Volcano Badge!" Ryan shook the maracas violently over his head to get his point across. He desperately needed the badge to get into the Indigo League Tournament like his father before him. He had to make his family proud. That way his mother wouldn't see him as a disappointment, a high school dropout with no future, and his father wouldn't see him as tarnishing his own legacy. Ryan would win the tournament for them. He had to.

"Sure," Rahul said, waving a half-chewed rib in Ryan's general vicinity. "I'll be here when you get back."

"Save me a rib!" Ryan pleaded earnestly.

"No promises," replied Rahul.

Ryan nodded and then ran off to the gym entrance. He had to defeat this Olivia girl fast… if he wanted to get one of those ribs before Rahul devoured them all. Rahul smiled broadly, bobbing his head up and down like an apple in water and gestured for Ryan to enter the door to his right. Ryan saw that it was, unmistakably, the gym entrance. He nodded to Rahul, felt his heart pounding in his chest, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside.

Inside, Ryan found himself hit by a wall of heat. The lights were dimmed, and he had to move by feeling his way, rather than seeing properly. The room was cluttered with chairs and tables and what appeared to be statues of people. As he neared them, however, they moved slightly, but he never got in their lines of sight, so they just stood still. That was quite weird, but Ryan didn't know what to do about it. His immediate thought was to throw a Pokeball at one of them, but his encounter with Rahul the night before had already tackled that joke well enough.

As he walked past one of the statues, Ryan caught a glimpse of its face and saw it to be human. He let out an audible gasp and nearly fell over in surprise. The human - a boy slightly younger than Ryan himself - took this cue as his moment to jump forward and challenge Ryan to a duel.

"Pokemon battle, begin!" the boy screamed, waving a Pokeball over his head like a madchild. "I'm Super Nerd!" he shouted proudly. "If you want to fight Gym Leader Olivia, then you'll have to get past me first!"

Ryan frowned. "Uh, I'm not here to battle you. I just want a Volcano Badge."

Super Nerd started foaming at the mouth and dancing to a song Ryan could not hear, frantically poking the air all around him as if he was in some kind of frenzy. "Fight me! Come on! Fiiiiiight meeee!"

"Um, no thanks," replied Ryan, stepping forward and pushing Super Nerd out of the way with his hand. _Maybe he has rabies,_ Ryan thought.

Super Nerd fell to the ground with the frailty of a piece of paper in the wind. "Bu-but…" he stammered. "No fair! You have to fight me."

But Ryan was already gone. He wasn't in the gym to fight some weird little nerd statue dude. He couldn't afford to have even one of his Pokemon injured in battle before facing Olivia. He wasn't even sure if his existing team was good enough as it was. He felt anxious at that, his heart beating so hard that he could hear it in his ears with every step. So Ryan started shaking the maracas as he walked to drown out the cursed noise.

After some time, Ryan slogged his way into a large cavern, where stalactites and stalagmites grew from the rocky surfaces like gnarled teeth. He supposed that he was in the heart of the town's volcano now. His entire body was slicked with sweat. There ahead of him, situated over a pool of molten lava, was a medium-sized battle platform. It hung from the ceiling with rusty chains and swayed slightly with every earthly volcanic rumble. As he started moving forward, Ryan caught a glimpse of flame, instantly sending him into déjà vu. Blinking sweat out of his eyes, Ryan saw the Rapidash and the girl who rode it so well come flying into view.

"Whoa there!" the girl shouted. She was wearing blue short shorts, a small red crop top which revealed much of her flat stomach, flip-flops, and a light blue bandana around her forehead. She was very pretty, Ryan realized, and he barely heard what she said next because of that. "What do you want?!"

Ryan shook his head to clear his thoughts. "A-are you Olivia?"

She studied Ryan's face and then dismounted. "Sure am. So are you here for a Volcano Badge?" She reached for something in her pocket, then produced a small red button that looked like a flame. She held it between two long fingers as she thrust it into Ryan's face. It glimmered red in the flames of the Rapidash. "One of these?"

"Yes please!"

She let out a sly smile. "You'll have to battle me for it. My father entrusted me to run this Gym properly, and I'll do it! You'll have to earn this badge!"

"Your father's Blaine?"

"Yeah, he's sick right now, so I took over gym battle duties. I'm not as experienced as him, but you shouldn't underestimate me."

"I won't," Ryan promised the girl a promise he knew he could keep.

"Good!" Olivia beamed, flicking her golden hair out of her eyes. "Three-on-three, okay? No gimmicks, no surprises. Whoever has the most Pokemon left standing at the end wins, got it?"

"Yeah."

"Then, let's party!" Olivia shouted. In one fluid motion, she jumped on her Rapidash with grace and then led him across the hanging platform to the other side. Once there, she stayed mounted on her Rapidash even as she readied a Pokeball in her hand. Ryan did likewise. "Ready?!" she shouted his way.

"Ready!" he echoed back.

Ryan took a deep breath, swallowing his fear and anxiety. The time for all of that was done. Now, he just needed to fight, to prove himself. He needed to show everyone that he was a Pokemon master after all. He grabbed a Pokeball off of his belt and held it in his hand. The volcano rumbled then, and splashes of lava flew into the air all around him. Yet Ryan was not scared by the lethal hot liquid shooting up in geysers around where he stood. He felt the anxiety roll off of him with the heat and the sweat. He was ready now. He was ready to win. So the boy took the Pokeball and threw it directly at the hanging platform ahead of him, starting his most important match yet.


	9. Cinnaburn

"Go Ninetales!"

"Go Clawey!"

Ninetales was a beautiful Pokemon, Ryan thought, and it towered over his poor Golduck like VY Canis Majoris compared to a lonely hydrogen atom. He had only ever seen Ninetales on television before, and now seeing one in person, in all its glory, Ryan was colored very impressed.

"Confuse Ray!" Olivia commanded.

Ryan tipped his top hat Olivia's way before beginning, because he was a gentleman and a scholar. "Clawey, use surf!"

Before Clawey could ride that wave, however, the Ninetales shot forward and fired a Confuse Ray. Ryan desperately wanted Clawey to avoid it, but alas, his Pokemon had not the speed, and the attack hit him straight in the chest. Clawey fell over. Ryan took out his Pokedex and pointed it at Clawey. His Golduck had stood up by this point and was now looking this way and that, visible question marks popping up around its beak. Ryan had never seen such a thing happen before. Heck, he hadn't even believed it was possible for question marks to materialize out of nowhere until just then.

"Clawey is confused!" Dex droned.

"Oh no! Oh jeez!" Ryan was horrified. He saw his chances slipping. "Come on Clawey, surf all over that Ninetales! Don't hurt yourself in your confusion! Please!"

"Duck, gol? Gol, duck?" Clawey quacked. He then brought up his surf around him and rode an impressive wave right into Ninetales. It was a direct hit. Ninetales stumbled back, shrieking in pain. Its fur soaked and its body bruised, the fire Pokemon then collapsed onto the ground, defeated.

"Whooooo!" Ryan whooped, punching the air.

Olivia returned Ninetales, then dismounted from her Rapidash. "All right, Rapidash, it's time we teach this kid a lesson! Go get 'em!"

Rapidash lept through the air impressively and landed right in front of the question mark-plagued Golduck.

"Rapidash, Take Down!"

"Body Slam it, Clawey!" Ryan yelled.

The Rapidash glided forward as if it was flying and tackled the small Golduck easily, even as it was slightly damaged by the recoil of the attack. Ryan winced as he watched his Golduck hit the floor hard. Bruises and scratches were clearly evident on its body now. Clawey winced and cried out, but it stood up to retaliate with a Body Slam. However, as he tried to, the Golduck accidentally punched himself in the face with a hard fist and fell over again.

"Clawey has hurt itself in its confusion!" Dex assured its master.

Ryan shook his head and slumped his shoulders. "That's exactly what I didn't want to happen!"

"All right, another Take Down, Rapidash! Don't let up!"

"Oh brother…" Ryan breathed out as he watched the entire scenario play itself out again. The fire stallion charged his Golduck, hit it to the floor and hurt itself slightly in the recoil. Once again, Golduck was hurt lots. This next time, Ryan told the blue Pokeduck to use his surf attack. The Golduck obliged and hit the Rapidash with a swift water attack. A flicker of hope caught Ryan then, for he saw how critically the attack had hurt Olivia's Pokemon. The Rapidash shuddered and stumbled back.

"Don't give up, Rapidash!" Olivia said, trying to console her fire 'mon.

Ryan didn't even hear the attack she told him to perform, though, for he was already yelling to Golduck again. "Rock it out with surf again! Make it rain, Clawey!" Ryan screamed, shaking his maracas as if to appease the rain gods. "Make it raiiiiiiiiin!"

The Golduck took that command to heart and ran at the Rapidash. It started galloping right at Clawey, closing in on another fearsome attack. However, as the Rapidash got up to him, Clawey jumped out of the way, and his opponent went flying by, preparing a deadly Fire Spin for but an open space. Clawey flipped over in midair (because he was an acrobat with many years of training in the Pokemon gymnastics league), created a water wave and rode it upside down right into Rapidash's left side. The Rapidash didn't even know what hit it before it collapsed to the ground, defeated.

Olivia looked visibly frustrated with that defeat. Ryan laughed aloud. She seemed even more annoyed by his gloating than her own failure to outsmart him so he tipped his hat to her again. She must not have seen the gentleman's gesture when she spoke, "You're not half-bad, but this is the end of the road! You won't win this time! I'll show you who's boss! Go Flareon!"

"Flareon?" Ryan repeated, puzzled. "I thought Blaine's other Pokemon was an Arcanine."

"That was my father's Pokemon. Flareon's mine. And you'll see, he's a lot more deadly, too."

"We'll see alright," Ryan swore. "Clawey, use your Body Slam attack!"

"Flareon, Body Slam him right back!"

The two Pokemon flew into the air like a couple of drunk Pidgeys trying to mate and soon they collided with a sickening thud. Ryan winced as he saw a bright white light encapsulate the two Pokemon; then, their two bodies fell from the air like sacks of potatoes and crashed into the ground. The great metal chains holding up the platform shook violently for a few moments, and a few splashes of lava jumped onto the side nearest Ryan. He saw that Golduck was lying crumpled on the ground, not moving. He quickly pointed his PokeDex to Clawey and shouted:

"Hey, Clawey, get up! Come on, you can do it! You can beat Flareon!"

"Clawey has fainted," Dex droned softly.

Ryan grasped onto his blue hair and briefly contemplated pulling it all out. "Gahhh! Come on, Clawey, don't do this to me! Not now! We're so close!" He knew how close he was. A single surf would cause Flareon to faint. He just needed Clawey to do one more attack.

"Looks like your Pokemon's finished," Olivia laughed. "Let's go, bring out the next one. I don't have all day, kid."

"I'm not a kid… I'm fourteen! I'm a man grown." Ryan mumbled to himself. After a brief stare-off with Olivia, he sighed and called his Golduck back into a Pokeball. He considered who to bring out next. Abra would get KO'd with one Body Slam, he knew. There was no way his Charmeleon would be any good, either. And Matata… she was a grass Pokemon - not even worth considering. He fingered Abra's Pokeball and prepared to throw it onto the platform ahead of him when suddenly a commotion started up behind him. Ryan spun around to see Nurse Joy chasing after a Pokemon which was coming right at him like a train without brakes.

_Dragonair._ Ryan stepped back, his heart aflutter in his throat. The Dragonair slid right up to him and and nuzzled up against his neck. He just stood there, arms out to either side, unsure of what to do. Heck, he didn't even know if what he was seeing was real. Could he be dreaming? Had the heat and hunger finally gotten to him?

"I'm sorry… so sorry!" Nurse Joy panted as she finally reached Ryan. Ryan could have sworn that she was even more beautiful than the last Nurse Joy he had seen. She had just the right shade of pink in her hair. "That Dragonair escaped from the Pokecenter. I've been trying to chase he down all afternoon!" When she saw how affectionate the Dragonair was acting to Ryan, she narrowed her eyes. "Hey, I know you! You're the one who brought that Dragonair in!"

"Y-yeah, that's me…" Ryan said, trailing off as he turned around to glance over at Olivia standing on the far side of the volcano. "Uh, I'm in the middle of a Pokebattle right now…"

"Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry!" Nurse Joy said politely. "This wasn't your Pokemon, right?"

"No," Ryan spoke honestly. "I just found it hurt in the woods, so I brought it to you."

"Well, I guess we can keep her at the Pokecenter until her master comes to claim her. Here, let me put the Dragonair back in this Pokeball…"

"Neeee!" The Dragonair shrieked. She pushed her body against Ryan's, trembling tremendously.

"What's that?" Nurse Joy cocked her head to one side. "She's scared? She must not want to go in the ball."

Ryan shook his head. Why did this have to happen now of all times? He knelt down next to the Dragonair, who was bobbing up and down, her entire body shaking in fright. She had moved behind Ryan as far away from the good nurse as physically possible. He pet her on the head to calm her down and spoke, "Hey, don't worry, Dragonair! It's just a Pokeball. Besides, once your master finds out you're here, they'll come and get you!"

"Nee eehh ne!" Dragonair growled. Ryan tried to move her around him for Nurse Joy to take, but the Dragonair would not budge. Her eyes were as wide as something that is wide and she seemed to be pleading with Ryan. He faltered, seeing her like that.

"I… I think she wants to stay with me…" He thought back to how standoffish the Dragonair had been back when he had found her and saved her from the clutches of that insane bratty girl, Sophia. And now it was as loyal to him as any of his stalwart companions. Ryan looked up at Nurse Joy, bewildered by his realization.

She nodded, knowingly. "It seems that Dragonair knows you saved her. And now she only feels safe around you."

"But what about her original master? Won't they be mad? I can't just steal their Pokemon!"

"Her original master must have abandoned her. You said she was all alone and wounded in the forest. No good Pokemon Trainer would ever leave one of their Pokemon like that. That must've been when Dragonair broke out of the Pokecenter! She wanted to make sure that you didn't forget her too."

Ryan looked down at the Dragonair, his mouth agape. He couldn't believe it. "So… I can take her?"

Nurse Joy did that thing that they do in the Pokemon anime where they just grunt and nod and Ryan knew what it meant because he lived in the Pokemon world.

Ryan turned back to the Dragonair and patted it on the head. "Hey Dragonair! So you wanna stay with me, huh?" Dragonair barked and bobbed its head enthusiastically. Ryan beamed. "Alright! Welcome to Team Ryan, the best team in the Pokeworld! Whoo!" He looked back to Nurse Joy and gave her a thumbs up. "Thanks for helping me with this, but I've got a gym battle to win!"

Nurse Joy said her farewells and wished Ryan luck, but Ryan knew he had already gotten lucky. He'd gotten a Dragonair.

"Hey, what's going on over there?!" Olivia shouted from the other side of the volcano.

"I'm just choosing my next Pokemon."

"Well hurry up!"

Ryan ignored her and took out his PokeDex, thrusting it into his new Pokemon's face impatiently. "Hey Dexy, does Dragonair know any water-type moves?"

"This Dragonair knows Surf. And please do not call me Dexy," his PokeDex replied.

Ryan's face lit up. "Awesome! I'm gonna wreck house with this Dragonair! We're gonna party like it's 1998! Thanks Dexy!" Ryan pocketed his irritable machine and then pointed to the stage. "Go Dragonair! Let's bring the heat! Beat that Flareon!" He shook his maracas menacingly at Olivia, but she was probably too far away to hear them.

"Flareon, Body Slam it!" Olivia shouted as soon as the dragon-type Pokemon entered the stage. The Flareon howled and rushed forward, but as it reached Ryan's Pokemon, it suddenly dropped to the ground, not moving. Flashes of electricity flew over its head, Ryan swore. "Oh no, she's paralyzed!" Olivia moaned, disappointed.

"Paralyzed?" Ryan repeated, briefly confused. Then he remembered his Golduck's last attack. "Oh! Clawey's Body Slam must've done it! Holla at my boy!" Ryan took out Golduck's Pokeball and jiggled it up and down to holler at his so called boy. "All right, let's finish this! Dragonair, Surf your way to victory!"

The Dragonair nodded and conjured up a wave of water. And she surfed that wave so beautifully, it would have brought a tear to Ryan's eye had he been a sad sappy sucker. Within a few moments, the entire hanging platform was sopping wet and the paralyzed Flareon had fainted. Olivia frowned and returned the Pokemon into its Pokeball; then, she jumped forward onto the precariously hanging battle platform and gestured for Ryan to join her. The boy scrambled forward to meet her.

Olivia was smirking when he reached her. When he came up to her, Ryan really saw how cute she was. Her wavy blond hair was hanging around her shoulders and skin color was the perfect island tan. As he stepped forward, the good trainer caught the scent of her perfume and briefly was he enthralled by her presence. When she used her hand to motion him forward, he lunged as if he was in a stupor and attempted to kiss her. The Gym Leader, however stepped back.

"Whoa, I'm just giving you your Volcano Badge, dude. No need to take it further than that…" she laughed nervously.

"Oh, right, thanks!" Ryan said, his face going scarlet as he plucked the shiny badge from the girl's outstretched hand.

Ryan knew Olivia was trying to alleviate the embarrassment hanging in the air when she next spoke. "You fought well today, kid."

_I'm not a kid. I'm basically a grownup_, Ryan thought_. Can't you see that?!_

"You kind of lucked out with paralyzing my Flareon, but I guess everyone gets lucky sometimes, huh?"

_And if I didn't have Dragonair…_

"Keep training your Pokemon, and learn more about Pokemon strategy. Who knows, maybe I'll hear about you winning the Indigo League some day! Just keep fighting confident and stay humble. That's a big part of winning a battle. Don't let your opponents outsmart you."

"Thanks," Ryan replied meekly, his shoulders thrust forward and his head down. "You're a good trainer too."

He wanted to tell her she was pretty. He wanted to let out all of his feelings; but, like the volcano bubbling underneath their feet, he didn't allow any outburst. He held his tongue. Ryan had made a fool of himself once already today, and he was not keen on making a second. So the boy said his goodbyes to Olivia, turned around, and walked out of the Gym. He would return to Kelly and show her what he had won while she slept off a mighty orange juice hangover. He would gloat and boast, but deep down inside, Ryan would not forget Olivia. He only wished that once he won the Indigo League, like he knew he would, he could return to her and things would be different.


	10. The Christmas Special!

This is the AJE Christmas Special! I hope you enjoy it! Merry Christmas everyone!

* * *

><p>When dear Kelly fought Olivia, the eye-pleasing lady girl, Ryan watched with a bag of popcorn and a heart full of confetti. He busted out his prized ukulele and sat on a fold-up chair to watch the battle. 'Take the shot!' he would scream to Kelly's Wartortle (the esteemed Tortilla) as it did the battling. It was a water Pokemon so it was pretty good against Olivia's fire 'mon. Ryan gave his pointy sunglasses to Kelly's Wartortle because Ryan watched season 1 of Pokemon and he knew that was what Wartortles needed to be winners.<p>

Suffice to say, with the strength of her Wartortle, Arcanine, and Raichu, Kelly was able to scrape by Olivia's team with the skin of her teeth. When she won, Ryan stood up and clapped as loudly as he could with a tear in his eye. He was so proud of that girl. Funnily enough, she didn't even realize he was there until she turned to walk out.

"Oh hey," Kelly said. "Came to watch the battle?"

"You did great! Yeah, girl, whoo!" Ryan strummed on his ukulele. "I guess we can go to the next gym now, right?"

Kelly nodded. "Yeah. My last badge is in Viridian City. It's the toughest gym out there. I'll need to train my Pokemon some more before attempting it."

"Huh?! One more badge?!" Ryan cocked his head in surprise, then threw Abra's Pokeball to the floor. The little Pokemon tumbled out, half-asleep, bless his heart. "Hey Abra, did you know about this one more badge thing?!"

"Bra bra bra abra!" Abra yawned.

"Dang, I can't understand you at all." Ryan returned his Pokemon to the Pokeball. "This isn't fair," he whined to Kelly. "I still have five badges to get! You can't finish before me! That's not fair."

"Why not?"

"Be-because…" Ryan searched for the words, but could not say them. He wanted Kelly to come with him on his entire journey. He knew that once she got all eight gym badges, she'd leave him in the dust. She would go off to prepare for the tournament. He didn't want that. He wanted her company. He needed it. Ryan's face went red with embarrassment. "It's… it's nothing, okay!"

Kelly smiled, deviously. "Sure, okay. Whatever you say. So we'll take a boat to Pallet Town and then travel to Viridian City from there, okay?"

"Pallet Town?!" Ryan's face suddenly lit up. "You mean where Professor Oak lives?"

"Yeah, why?"

Ryan punched the sky. "He change Charmeleon's name to something better!"

"Are you sure about that?" Kelly asked. Her face betrayed her doubt.

"No, not really. But let's try it, okay?"

Kelly shrugged and then the two of them walked out of there, each with a new badge and a new goal.

* * *

><p>Rahul was sunbathing on the beach when they found him. It had snowed the night before, and much of the beach was icy and slushy, but Rahul didn't seem to mind. He was enjoying kabobs dripping with barbecue sauce that made Ryan as jealous as as a meerkat that wanted to merely be a cat. Around him, three bikini-clad girls were fanning Rahul and keeping him cool on that frosty day. By the time Ryan and Kelly reached Rahul, he had finished his meal and was licking his fingers ravenously.<p>

"Aw no fair, Rahul!" Ryan shouted. He almost brought out the maracas again. "You were supposed to save me some."

"Sorry," Rahul smiled unapologetically. "You took too long."

"Ugh! Well, do you want to come with us? Kelly and I are leaving the island to get more badges."

"Come on, this place is awesome!" Rahul squealed like a pig in heat. "Do we have to leave?"

"Rahul…" Ryan said in a motherly tone. "You know you have to earn more badges to get into the Indigo Tournament. How many do you have so far?"

Rahul sighed. "Three."

"Cool, me too! Let's get some more, okay? All right, buddy?" Ryan patted the big man on the shoulder and was struck by how he had to treat Rahul like a Pokemon to make Rahul do anything.

Rahul looked at Ryan. "I want go south to catch Lugia first."

The blue-haired boy shook his head. "No, no, no! It's too early in the story for legendaries, brah. Besides, I don't know if you're an important enough character to get one anyway."

Rahul sighed again and raised a hand. "Okay, okay. Fine." He sat up and and looked at the girls fanning him. "Before I go, do any of you want to be my girlfriend?"

The three beauties looked at one another and then, in unison, ran for the sandy-and-snowy hills faster than Sonic on Adderall.

* * *

><p>The boat was a sparsely populated, as most people were coming to the Cinnabar Island to battle Olivia, and those who had already beaten her had already left and returned home for Christmas. Only Ryan, Kelly, Rahul, and a small boy who called himself Dean accompanied the ship's captain on the trip back to the mainland. Dean said almost nothing to the other three, instead focusing on his phone and talking to someone over Skype in a hushed voice. They didn't bother him. Ryan let all of his Pokemon stretch their legs on the deck, as did Kelly and Doctor Rahul. Ryan was shocked to see how many cool Pokemon Rahul had - a Dragonair, a Charizard, a Lapras, a Hypno, a Rhyhorn, and a Magneton. Ryan stroked his non-existent goatee and hoped that one day he could be as cool as Rahul.<p>

"I'm on a boat! Everybody look at me!" Ryan said in jubilation because he thought that awesome people like Rahul would say something like that.

All of the Pokemon partied like it was 1998, playing pin the tail on the Tauros and sipping on fine bubbly juice. Ryan conversed with the others about what they expected to get from Poke Santa for Christmas. However, as Ryan glanced over at his Pokemon, he noticed that his Golduck was getting seasick. Clawey's eyes got swirly like pastries and made Ryan hungry for said pastries. He was in awe of how a water Pokemon could get seasick in the first place. So Ryan brought Golduck over to him and comforted his poor Pokemon by telling him the story of the ugly barnacle.

As everyone was enjoying themselves, a second ship suddenly appeared on the horizon. It shot toward them with all its speed, and the captain could not avoid it. With a sudden "crash!" the two ships collided and water started flooding the deck.

"Avast ye mateys!" a voice from the other ship bellowed. Suddenly a dark shape sprung from other ship and jumped onto the deck of the sinking one. He was a pirate, attired in a proper pirate garb, and he had a flowing pink beard growing from his nose hairs. Both of his legs were peglegs and both of his hands were hooks. It made Ryan curious as to how Pinkbeard could even function in life. "The name's Pinkbeard, yarrrgh! Pinkbeard the first!"

"Cool name bro," Ryan said.

"Aye, it is, it is!" The pirate agreed. "Now give me all yer Pokemon yarrgh!"

"What?!" everyone shouted together. "Never!"

"Har har har, ya poor fools. No one gets away from Pinkbeard the first!" Pinkbeard raised his left hook, removed the hook with his other hand, and then began shooting nets out from the hole. They wrapped around each of the trio's Pokemon and bound them tightly. "Made from special string! No Pokemon can escape from inside, yarrgh!" Pinkbeard proclaimed proudly.

"Oh no!" Kelly shouted. "What can we do?"

Rahul raised his screwdriver to the sky. "I'm the doctor. I can fix this!"

"Rahul, did you drink too much orange juice?! You can't do anything with a plastic screwdriver!"

Ryan went to pat Rahul on the arm when Rahul jumped forward and charged Pinkbeard. "No! Don't touch me, I'm sterile!"

Pinkbeard tripped Rahul with a well-placed pegleg, sending the human Snorlax flying into the side of the ship. He got the pastry eyes like Golduck had had a few minutes before and then fell over, unconscious.

"No more tricks, me mateys! Stand back and ya won't get hurt!" The pirate scalawag moved forward to collect the Pokemon.

"Hey bozo, what do you think you're doing?!" The small boy Dean said. He stood up and walked forward, unhooking a Pokeball from his waist.

"Ahar har har! I didn't see ya, boy! Good, more Pokemon for me!" Pinkbeard aimed his hook at Dean.

Dean threw his Pokeball and out flopped a Magikarp. Ryan facepalmed. "That is literally the worst Pokemon you could have chosen to help us!" Ryan screamed in dismay.

Dean narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Just watch." He pointed to Pinkbeard and then pressed a button on a bracelet on his left wrist. A bright light coated the Magikarp for a moment, and when it dissolved, it was not Magikarp who stood there any longer. "Use Mega Splash attack!" Dean roared.

Ryan took out his Pokedex and pointed it at the new Pokemon. It looked vaguely like a Magikarp, though it had wings and antennae and lightning coated its body like it was a Super Saiyan 2. Its body was muscled, longer, bigger, but it was not a Gyarados. It was a beast.

"Mega Magikarp," Dex stated in monotone. "The Mega evolution of Magikarp. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I cry every time."

"Huh? Mega? What's a Mega?" Ryan pondered.

"It's canon now," Dean assured him.

Mega Magikarp glided through the air like an angel, gracefully maneuvering around the nets Pinkbeard was shooting at it. When it reached the old salty man, it opened its fishy mouth and sprayed Pinkbeard with a bunch of water. This got Pinkbeard pretty wet and pretty annoyed.

"So that's how we're gonna play, is it?! Okay, Tentacruel, Primeape, go!" He threw two Pokeballs. A Tentacruel and a Primeape came flying out of them.

They charged the Mega Magikarp, who flew past them like a dust cloud in a breeze. The Primeape spun around and flew at the Mega Magikarp with a flying kick, and the Tentacruel tried a water gun, but both were hopelessly hopeless attacks. The Primeape hit the Magikarp and banged his foot up real good, falling to the ground and screaming out in pain. The Tentacruel's attack just bounced off the Magikarp's hard shell.

"Tackle them!" Dean commanded. "Take them out!"

Mega Magikarp flopped forward and hit Pinkbeard across the face. This was quite the fish sneak attack and the pirate was unprepared for it. The tackle hit him square in the jaw, upending him, and sending him flying off into the distance. Everyone watched him go until he was nothing more than a twinkle in the sky. It was a beautiful sight.

"Yarrgh! Pinkbeard be blastin' off again!" the pirate croaked as he flew away.

Mega Magikarp followed this up by tackling both of the pirate's Pokemon. They went flying up the air after their master, soon disappearing from sight as they faded into the dark sky.

"See you later, bozo," Dean screamed after Pinkbeard the First, who surely could not hear the boy. "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"

Then, Dean commanded his Mega Magikarp to free the other Pokemon. Once they were free, the water Pokemon (Wartortle, Golduck, Mega Magikarp, Lapras, and the two Dragonairs) jumped in the water and used all of their strength to push their sinking boat to shore. Everyone worked together except for the Pokemon who didn't, and eventually they towed the ship to shore. Great job, everyone!

* * *

><p>It was evening by the time they reached the shore and it was just starting to snow again. Dean agreed to join the three in Pallet Town for the night, for it was too late for him to make his way home on his own. As they walked the beaches toward the city lights they could see in the distance, Ryan stumbled over something and fell to the sand. Rahul cackle and patted his belly seeing Ryan fall. Seeing Ryan fall gave him almost as much pleasure as a chicken wing would.<p>

"What was that?" Ryan said, annoyed. He looked over to the thing he had tripped on and saw that it looked like a rock. But it was no rock, for the thing opened and Ryan could see something dark and slimy inside it. "Hey everyone! I found a rock with a snot in it! Whoa!"

"That's not a rock, dummy," Dean said, walking over to Ryan. "It's a Cloyster."

"How do you know? You're not a Pokedex," Ryan contended.

Dean shrugged. "I have a Shellder… I know what its evolution looks like."

Ryan took out his Pokedex just to be sure. "Hey there, you Dexy thing you. What Pokemon is this?"

"Please do not call me a Dexy thing. It makes me feel weird," Dex said in monotone. "Ahem… Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon. For protection, it uses its harder-than-diamonds shell. It also shoots spikes from the shell."

Ryan's eyes lit up. "Cool! I wanna catch it!" He took a Pokeball out of his bag and threw it to the ground. "Abra, I choose you!"

"Ra bra!"

"Reflect, Abra!"

Abra conjured up some sparkly energy around him and raised his defense against all possible physical attacks. The Cloyster noticed the bright light, realized it was under attack, and threw itself at Abra. Its rocky jaws shut around Abra's frail body and clamped down hard.

"Abra, psychic yeah!"

But the Cloyster was still clamping down on Abra. The poor psychic Pokemon was suffering quite a bit. "Bra…. Abra…!" it moaned in pain as the Cloyster toyed with it.

"Hold on Abra!" Ryan said, taking another Pokeball out of his bag.

"Come on, Ryan, can't you battle fair for once?!" Kelly complained. "Just once?"

"But Abra's stuck!"

"If you're a good enough trainer, you'll think a way out of it."

Ryan pocketed the ball begrudgingly. "Fine. If you say so. Abra, use psychic as soon as you get free, okay buddy?"

"Bra."

Cloyster's clamp lasted for two more turns (this is real life). Then, it released Abra. As soon as it did, the smaller Pokemon rolled back and created energy in his hands. The Cloyster charged Abra, but Abra held his ground and fired his psychic attack directly into the black slime in the middle of the Pokemon's shell. An explosion sent Cloyster falling back into the sand, where it lay, unmoving, dazed and wounded. Ryan took out an empty ball, then aimed it at Cloyster.

"Gotta catch 'em all!" Ryan bellowed before he threw the ball.

The red-and-white ball hit Cloyster on the side of its shell, then fell to the sand and cracked open. Pink light covered the wild Pokemon and then sucked it inside. For a few seconds, the ball wiggled on that quiet shore; Cloyster fought desperately for its freedom. But it was too weak and too damaged by Abra's attack, and soon the ball stopped moving. Ryan had caught himself a new 'mon. Whoop whoop!

* * *

><p>By night, they reached Pallet Town. It was a small place with only a few houses and no Pokecenter, so Ryan had to use potions to heal Abra and his new Cloyster. They saw Christmas lights shining from all the houses. Snow was falling softly. As they walked further, the four kids saw a tall, unadorned, silver pole erected in the center of the town. Snow had fallen around it, but still it stood noble and proud. Next to it, a man in a heavy Gore-Tex jacket sat on a chair, ringing a bell.<p>

"A Festivus for the rest of us! It's a Festivus for the rest of us!" he sang, pleasantly.

Kelly moved up to him, trudging through the snow. "Excuse me sir, is this Pallet Town?"

The man's face glowed in the reflection of Christmas lights and smiled. "Why of course it is, miss!"

"Is there any place to stay, like a hotel or something?" she inquired.

"Sorry. Pallet's a small town, even this time of year. We don't have a hotel."

Kelly breathed out, hard. "Are you serious? Then where are we supposed to stay for the night?"

"You can stay with me," the man said, pocketing his bell and standing up. "My mother's house is just over there," he pointed. "I'm visiting her for the holidays. I'm sure she'd be happy to have all of you join us."

"Thank you," Kelly said. She turned to face the others. "What do you say, guys?"

"Anything to get out of this cold!" Ryan replied.

"Sure," Dean nodded.

"I'm the Doctor and I know it!" Rahul assured everyone.

"It's a Festivus miracle! Follow me," the man said, enthusiastically. He began walking toward a house in the distance with vibrant Christmas lights and a homely glow coming from the windows inside. Then, he stopped, raised a hand and half-waved at the four people following him. "I'm Ash, by the way. Ash Ketchum. Nice to meet you all."


	11. Oakheart

The man named Ash led Ryan and the gang to a quaint little house decorated in Christmas lights and snow. A frenzied Mr. Mime opened the door for them and ushered them inside, wiping the snow from their shoes with a broom and thrusting a hand vacuum into their faces menacingly, as if to try to clean their very skin (they were all very, very dirty). Ash ignored the Pokemon and brought everyone into the kitchen, where an older woman was sitting, drinking coffee.

"Uh, hey mom," Ash began, "I found these trainers out in the snow. They were looking for somewhere to stay, and it looked like everywhere else was closed, so I thought I'd bring them back here…" he shrugged. "We have room don't we?"

His mother stood up, her face flushing with a smile as she greeted each of Ryan's gang. "I'm sure we'll find some room for them. I hope one of you isn't opposed to sleeping on the couch…"

"Thank you, Mrs. Ketchum," Kelly said earnestly, bowing in respect. "We're extremely grateful for you taking us in."

"It's no trouble," the woman replied. "Though it might make Mimey a little anxious. Just don't make a mess, or he'll go crazy!"

They all swore on the old gods and the new that they would not incur the wrath of Mimey, and Mrs. Ketchum showed them where they would be staying. Ryan asked Ash to use their home phone, and Ash pointed him to a corner of the kitchen. The teal-haired trainer immediately called his mother, thinking it was not too late - she was probably still up drinking eggnog or playing Pokepoker with his dad or doing something else he didn't want to think about or even think about thinking about.

"Hello?" came her voice from the fuzzy phone speaker. "Who is this?"

"H-hey mom, it's me, Ryan. Merry Pokemas!" the boy spoke. "How're things at home?"

"Oh Ryan, it's nice to hear your voice," his mother replied. "I thought you had forgotten about us. I hadn't heard from you in a long time."

Ryan's voice was puzzled, "Didn't you get my last message, mom?"

"That was weeks ago, Ryan. I've been worried that you haven't called since, and I think your father is worried too, but he would never say so."

Ryan scratched the back of his head, feeling his face go red. "Yeah, sorry I forgot. I guess after all this time trying to collect gym badges and catch Pokemon, it sort of slipped my mind."

"So how is your journey going, Ryan? Have you met lots of nice people and caught many Pokemon?"

"Yeah… I've made some friends. I have a full team of six Pokemon now and three badges! We're on our way to get the rest of them before the Indigo League Tournament begins. We still have a few months left before it does."

"I'm proud of you, Ryan," his mother said, her voice wistful and perhaps sad. "Your father thought you would be home for the holidays though. He hasn't seen you since before you left on your journey."

"Oh…" Ryan felt guilt hit him like a blizzard. "I'll come home as soon as I can, but I don't know how soon that will be…"

"It's okay," said his mother. "You need to finish collecting those gym badges first. I'm sure he understands."

"Mom, did you tell him about Abra?" Ryan asked. "I… I tried to take one of the Pokemon he doesn't use very much. Was he okay with that?"

There was a long pause. The wind was blowing outside the Ketchums' kitchen door, howling like a feral Arcanine. "He knows why you took Abra. Though when you return, I think he'll want to see his old Pokemon again."

"Of course."

"Okay Ryan, well I have to go now. Your father and I have the whole evening planned out."

They said their goodbyes and Ryan hung up. He heard the others getting ready for bed in the rooms above him on the second floor. Rahul was yelling about something and Ryan could hear Kelly trying to calm the big brute down. Classic Kelly. Ryan took Abra's Pokeball out of his bag and held it in his hand, feeling it over with his palm and eyes. Was his father really that angry about him taking Abra? Ryan hadn't thought it would be an issue, else he wouldn't have taken Abra at all. Still, he and the small Pokemon had bonded on their escapades thus far, and he was glad he had chosen Abra, even if that meant he was going to get a lecture from dad when he returned home.

"Heh, looks like you got the couch," Ash Ketchum said, causing Ryan to spin around. The man had a sleeping bag in his hands and he led Ryan into the next room where he could sleep. "So you're trainers, huh? Just passing through?"

"Yeah… well, not exactly." Ryan pocketed Abra's Pokeball. "I also wanted to see Professor Oak. I need to change my Pokemon's name…"

Ash laughed. "I can show you where he lives in the morning. It's hard to miss. Professor Oak's lab is the main reason anyone comes to this little town anymore. It's nice to have company."

"Do you live here?"

"No, I've been staying in Cerulean City with my girlfriend," said Ash. "But I came home for Pokemas, so my mom wouldn't be lonely. She has a hard enough time living alone with Mimey these days."

There was a moment of pause, where Ryan laid out his sleeping bag on the couch.

"Hey Ash, were you a trainer too? I mean, when you were younger?" Ryan asked, once he had finished making his bed. He thought Ash looked to be in his early twenties - maybe 20 or 21. He was definitely not ten years older than Ryan; that much was certain.

"Yeah, for a while. I collected all the Kanto badges when I was ten and finished in the top 16 in the Indigo League."

"Wow," Ryan said. "My father never did that well, and he tried a few times."

Ash shrugged. "It's not a big deal, really. There are plenty of great trainers and Pokemon masters who never win a tournament."

"Pikapi!" a squeaky voice muttered from behind Ash. Then, a little Pikachu came bounding out from the other side of the couch with a pillow in its hand. The Pokemon handed it to Ryan, a dubious, reserved look on its yellow face. "Pikachu!"

"Uh, thanks!" Ryan replied, taking the pillow. "Is that guy yours?"

Ash smirked. "Yeah. Me and Pikachu go way back. He was actually my first Pokemon, heh."

"You're first?" Ryan asked, his voice rising. "You mean you didn't have a regular starter either?"

"Nope," Ash said, scratching his Pikachu behind the ear. "But I'm glad I got Pikachu. I wouldn't have it any other way."

They ate dinner together as the winter snows fell outside, a fire burning in the Ketchum's fireplace keeping them snug and content. Kelly got into an argument with Dean over who the last Indigo Tournament champion was, and Rahul told a story about the time he dated three girls at once - a tale not even his prized goatee believed. Ryan didn't say much - he ate his food quietly, observing the others while he clutched Abra's Pokeball under the table. He could not stop thinking about what his mother had said. Did he need to return Abra? Was that what his father wanted? Was Abra his? Abra had been the first Pokemon to join him on his journey, and the way Ryan felt about Abra was like how Ash felt about his Pikachu. Ryan didn't want to have to return Abra to his father. But he didn't know if it was an option to refuse.

Everyone went to bed not long after, and Ryan tossed and turned on the couch for what seemed like hours. Finally, in the dead of night, he thrust himself from the blankets, put on his warmest clothes, and left the house. He didn't know where he was going - Ryan just needed to walk to clear his head. The snow was no longer falling heavily, but it was high and hard to trudge through. After getting his shoe caught in the snow and falling nearly a foot into it, the boy took out a Pokeball and threw it. Out from it came the Pokemon that had brought Ryan to this town: his Charmeleon.

"Okay Get Over Here," he said, remembering the Pokemon's true name. "I think that's the last time I'll have to call you that. Tomorrow Professor Oak is changing your name. I guarantee it." Ryan winked and gave the Pokemon a thumbs up. The Charmeleon had no idea what the heck his master was talking about so he barked. "Use your ember attack, boy! Melt all the snow in our way!"

Get Over Here shouted, "Meleon meleon charmeleon!" and then it roared out flames in all directions, melting entire dunes of snow and even setting a nearby tree on fire.

"Ugh, you're so careless!" Ryan whined before throwing Golduck's Pokeball. "Quick Clawey, put out that tree!"

"Duck duck duck."

Ryan eyed his two Pokemon, one melting all the snow, the other saving all the trees from the horrors of overzealous Pokefire. They were an odd couple indeed. "Hey, what the heck… why don't we bring out the whole team?" Ryan threw the remaining four Pokeballs all at once. He was very talented.

"Brah…. abra!" Abra yawned as he rolled out of his Pokeball into a pool of cold snow water. "Abraaaaa!"

"Quiet Abra, you'll wake the neighbors!"

"Ra."

"Ieeeieieie!" Matata cooed.

"Neieieahalalaahal!" Thurnax responded.

Clostyer needed to get on the action too, since he was new and everyone was wondering what he's like, "Cloyster… c-c-c-cloyster!"

Ryan sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, you guys know I don't understand a word you're saying, right?"

"Cloyster," said Cloyster.

The teal-haired boy wagged his finger. "Now now Cloyster, I'll put you back in your Pokeball if you talk with a sass mouth."

That horrified the Cloyster and he didn't say another word for the rest of the episode.

And so they went, marching through the melted snow, aimless and freezing. Ryan hoped that a walk would make him feel like sleeping, but the more he went on, the less he felt like returning to Ash's house. The blizzards had cleared up, and the sky was visible - the night's stars were twinkling like shining city lights. Ryan swore he could see a pink dot up there, something not like the rest, but whenever he honed in on it, it seemed to vanish. In that sky was something watching, he thought, but what it could be, Ryan had no clue.

Pallet Town was a small place with very few buildings. After circling the entire town several times over, Ryan decided their best course of action was to go into Pallet's diner, as it was the only store open at this hour of the night. As they approached, Ryan and his Pokemon gang in tow, the boy thought he saw something dark moving on the edge of sight, thought he heard wings flapping. He stopped and looked around. There was nothing but darkness and the weak artificial light emanating from the nearest lightpost. He crossed an empty street towards the diner when he heard the buzzing of wings yet again. This time, he was sure it wasn't Matata, as the sound her wings made was softer. Whatever was making that sound was bigger than Matata - much bigger. Ryan gulped.

"Get Over Here," he whispered, hoping whoever was out there wouldn't take that as their cue. "Shoot an ember in that direction," Ryan pointed down the street into the darkness. The Charmeleon obeyed, spitting fire and illuminating the desolate road for a fraction of a second. In that moment, Ryan heard the wings buzz again, and he caught a glimpse of something green shooting off behind a far building.

"It's a Pokemon," Ryan declared to a bunch of Pokemon. "Probably wild. Any of you want to go catch it? I'll buy you something tasty at the PokeMart if you do!" The boy waved some Pokedollars in their little Pokefaces, but none of his buddies even flinched.

"M-m-meleon!" Get Over Here shivered, dancing in place, his wee little arms thrust up as if he was reaching for the moon. "Ch-ch-char… ch-charmeleon!"

"Fine, we'll warm up in the diner first. But once you guys are nice and toasty, I want us to go catch that Pokemon, kay?"

"Eieieieieieie," Matata agreed.

The place was mostly empty; a brown-haired boy in a white shirt was sitting in a far booth, and a waitress was sipping some coffee from behind a perched chair facing the other direction, but there was no one else.

"Uh, excuse me, is this place Pokemon friendly?" Ryan asked to the waitress who had her back to him.

She stood up and faced him, revealing herself to be none other than Mrs. Ketchum herself. "Oh," she began, curiosity painted across her aged face. "Ryan, isn't it? Weren't you staying at my house?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep. Plus, we ate dinner only a few hours ago. Don't tell me my cooking's that bad!"

The boy felt his face going red again, and he swallowed hard in an effort to prevent that. "Oh, no, you're cooking's great Mrs. Ketchum," he said in an obligatory tone. "I… I, well I just couldn't sleep is all. My Pokemon got cold, and this is the only open place…"

The woman had a shrewd look on her face, but she smiled all the same. "I'll find you a table."

Ryan's Pokemon ordered enough food for a mob of Gremlins after midnight, and Ryan knew his wallet would be hurting come morning (rip in piece). They feasted on human food as if they had never eaten it before, the poor fellows. All the while, Ryan sat there feeling the brown-haired boy on the far side of the diner watching him. Ryan glanced at him a few times, and found him to have a familiar face - one which he had seen before but could not place. He almost wanted to get up and ask the other boy, but Ryan knew that was silly. Sane people don't go up to one another and talk.

"Abra," Ryan said, breaking the silence. Food and plates were being thrust around the table as if they were in a hurricane, so voracious were his little warriors as they traded dishes, tasting everything. "Yo Abra!"

"Ra!?" The Pokemon had a bowl of cheerios and milk mixed with hot and sour soup pressed to his mouth. "Rara abra!"

Ryan leaned in closer, as the little Pokemon was sitting across from him on a booster seat fit for an almost-newborn child. "Hey, when you were still with my dad, did he use you in a lot of battles? Were you one of his favorites? Is that why you have all those TMs and never evolved?"

"Bra. Abra!" The Pokemon took a swig of his cereal soup. "Abra abra abra, ra bra ah bra abra!"

"Yeah this isn't working at all," Ryan grumbled. "No matter how hard I try, I'll never understand your gibberish! You make less sense than one of those casino games with all the pennies."

"Abra!"

Before Ryan could respond, another voice cut into the conversation like a knife through salmonella. "Nice Pokemon."

Ryan saw the brown-haired boy standing at the end of his table, a cool smirk on his face, his green eyes flickering like wildfire. He wore a white shirt and black pants fit for early summer, not the deepest part of winter. It made Ryan wonder how he didn't get cold. "Thanks!" Ryan replied proudly. "I caught them all myself."

"I'm sure you did. You're a very good trainer."

"Uh, thanks…" Ryan said. He detected a hint of sass mouth coming from the other boy. Just a hint.

"Welcome."

Ryan ground his teeth. This was the perfect moment to be insane, and he wasn't fully convinced it was a good idea. But he took a deep breath and didn't think about the words that came next. "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?"

"I don't think so," said the other boy. "You weren't at that Pokedebate on the proliferation of Tauros, were you?"

"No…"

"Haha mayne, you should have seen it. Some idiots were arguing that we need more Tauros in the world."

"Well don't we?"

"Nah dude, they're too godly. I'd rather have a mongoose Pokemon anyway. Why can't we just have a mongoose Pokemon? I don't want to live in this world without one." The boy took out a brown paper bag and began to drink from a concealed bottle inside it. He hiccupped.

With that, the boy walked off. He didn't even say goodbye because he's super rude and super fly. Mrs. Ketchum got up upon seeing the boy walk towards the door and waved. "Bye Charlie! Say hello to your father for me!"

Without turning around, Charlie raised his fist into the air, acknowledging the woman, bowed his head, and walked out the door. From the window, Ryan watched him throw a Pokeball onto the ground, and suddenly a Porygon materialized on the sidewalk.

"Aight Dragonmaster," Charlie said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a bucket, which he then firmly planted over his head. "Let's wreck some dudes." He took another swig from his brown paper bag.

With that, Charlie's Porygon raced off into the night.

"Hey wait a minute!" Ryan said, standing up. It dawned on him all at once, causing him to feel lightheaded. "Wait, that was the kid on the poster in the Cinnabar Island PokeMart!"

"Duck golduck!"

"Yeah, I know!" Ryan lied. Ryan didn't have time to wonder what Clawey had said. "It was a two million woolong prize! I don't even know what a woolong is! But it sounds fancy as heck! We gotta catch that guy and find an Officer Jenny fast!"

"Neeee," Thurnax screamed.

"Charmeleon."

Ryan nodded. His pokemon were definitely in it to win it. He ran out of the diner, his Pokemon hot on his heels. Throwing his wallet to Mrs. Ketchum and crying "Take it all!" Ryan flew out the door. His Pokemon, as it turned out, were not close behind. All of them lumbered out of the establishment slowly, holding their swollen bellies and groaning softly. They had eaten too much, Ryan realized. There was no hope, none whatsoever, of catching Charlie the wily bandit. Dismayed, Ryan fell to his knees and shot air pistols at the sky. He was no cowboy, though.

It was then that Ryan heard the buzzing of wings yet again, and this time he saw the Pokemon. It was large, green, had swords for hands. Ryan knew its name without even needing Dex's help.

"Scyther," he breathed, his heart pounding in his ears. "No way. Ever since I was little I wanted one of those!"

He stood up, wide-eyed, in awe, and slowly approached the Pokemon. It was standing motionless in the middle of the street, sharpening its swords on one another. When it saw Ryan, it hissed.

"Easy boy," he said, carefully grabbing an empty Pokeball from his bag. "No one's gonna hurt you."

Then, as the wind began to howl, Ryan took his chance and threw his Pokeball at the green creature. It casually knocked the ball away with one of his arms and took off into the night.

"Come on everyone, let's go!" Ryan yelled; he rushed forward, scooping up his Pokeball, and pursued the Scyther into the darkness.

Of course, Ryan's six Pokemon, bless their little gluttonous hearts, had overeaten to the extreme. They could barely waddle, let alone run, and they soon lost their master in the darkness. Ryan followed the Scyther to the edge of Pallet Town, to the place where the town converged with Route 1. The forest was beyond that point, as were patches of tall grass, a dangerous place for anyone to venture through in the dead of night, especially a trainer who had no Pokemon with him. Ryan stopped at the edge, breathing hard, his hands on his knees.

He waited there for many hours as his Pokemon moved at a snail's pace until they reached him at the edge of town just as the sun began to rise in the distance. Upon seeing his crew, Ryan shook his head and facepalmed. "It's too late," he said hoarsely. "The Scyther got away."

"Scytheeeer!" a voice boomed through the forest from. Ryan screamed and ran back a few paces, for that was far too spooky for him.

And then, as if from the heavens, the green hunter descended from the tree, majestic as Rahul on prom night. "Scyther!"

It began to move about in front of Ryan and the gang as if it were having a seizure or dancing to Katy Perry. Either way, the Scyther seemed to be in fits, thrusting its body back and forth, shaking its sword arms in the air like it was trying to exorcise demons from its body.

"Oh my god, it's horrible!" Ryan shrieked. "The worst thing I ever saw in the whole wild world. Dex save us!"

He pointed his Pokedex at the madman Scyther. "Scyther is performing Swords Dance," the device stated. "Its attack will be raised two stages."

"What's two stages?" Ryan grabbed his hair and fell to the ground, his eyes bloodshot and wide open. "What's going on? Is this real life?!"

"Scyther scythe!"

"Charmeleon… someone… attack him!" Ryan despaired.

Scyther rushed forward and knocked over Charmeleon before the fire 'mon could conjure up another ember attack. He sliced and diced his way through the other five until they all fell over, stunned or fainted. Ryan rolled over and beheld his defeated team. "No way!"

"Scyther," Scyther retorted proudly.

"I'll get you for this!" Ryan shouted, readying his Pokeball again as he stood up. He did a little ballerina twirl and then flung the thing at the Scyther.

But the Pokemon was too fast - it dodged out of the way, hopping into the nearest tree and disappearing into the forest. As the sun rose into the sky of the new day, Ryan's Pokeball sailed into the forest, above the wet dew hanging on endless blades of tall grass. Just then, a small purple Pokemon raised its head from the grass and the Pokeball smacked it right in the forehead. Stunned, the Pokemon fell over and was quickly sucked into the ball. In the next second, the Pokeball rose into the air and then disappeared into nothingness.

"What just happened?!" Ryan said, dumbfounded. "I don't even know which Pokemon I caught! Dexy, explain yourself."

"As you wish, wise master," Dex said. "Since you already have six Pokemon with you, any further Pokemon you capture will be sent to the Pokecenter in the hometown linked to this Pokedex for storage."

"Hmm…" Ryan scratched his chin. "This was my father's Pokedex, so they must be going into his old storage container in Commerce City… But Dex, is there any way for me to see which Pokemon I just caught? I can't travel all the way to Commerce City right now…"

"Avast ye landlubber!" came the unmistakable voice of Pinkbeard the first. "Didya think ya defeated me last time, argh?"

The man with two peg legs, two hooks for hands, and pink nose hairs that formed a ragged beard stepped out from behind a bush. A boy in a black suit with the letter "R" emblazoned on the shirt followed him. Pinkbeard patted the boy on the head with a hook which really just got tangled in his hair and caused the boy to scream out in pain and thrash about like a stuck pig.

"Yargh! This here be my son Gillford Matilda Gooseman! He be here to help me get revenge on ya!" the pirate pointed a hook gravely at Ryan. "Yargh!"

"Shut up, dad! I told you my name is The Supreme Extreme and I'm the newest member of Team Rocket! I'm not here to help you get revenge! I'm here to help Team Rocket take over the world!" He jumped forward and struck a pose that would have brought a tear to Captain Ginyu's eye. "You!" he pointed at Ryan. "Tell me where Professor Oak's lab is! I heard he's got a whole bunch of godly Pokemon in there."

"I dunno what you're talking about," Ryan replied. "Honestly, you sound like you've had too much o-"

Gillford jumped forward with a flying kick and a high-pitched squeal, hitting Ryan right in his pretty little nose. The blue-haired trainer was taken aback by the attack and fell backwards in confusion. He tasted blood and felt pain wash over his face. As he lay there in the dirt, Ryan saw Gillford and Pinkbeard pull out a pair of net guns and move forward. Ryan watched them trap his Pokemon in the nets, and though he screamed for them to stop, the deadly duo paid him no heed. Then, once all six were safely locked away in netting, Gillford walked back over to Ryan, net gun in hand, and grinned.

"I'm the Supreme Extreme! I'm a god! I have all the power! Hear me roar! Look at my chi!" Spittle dripped from his lips; his crazed, beady little eyes shot this way and that as if, in his paranoia, he felt like he was being watched. "You're no match for me, kid! I can levitate. Watch this!"

Gillford raised the net gun and then smacked Ryan on the back of the head with it, instantly knocking out our poor protagonist.


	12. Tauros, Tauros, Tauros!

Ryan awoke from a particularly sticky dream about some boysenberry jam to find that his head was killing him. He was woozy, like he had just drank a gallon of orange juice (not that he would know what that felt like, to be sure). The Pokemon trainer stood up and yawned, finding himself wholly alone on the edge of Pallet Town. The sun was high in the sky. It was far later in the day than the last time he had been awake. That worried him.

"Wh… what happened?" the boy asked, rubbing his sore head.

"Scyther! Scytheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!"

Ryan spun around and saw a Scyther perched on a nearby tree branch. It tilted its head and screamed. It was a perfect target, sitting there calmly, and he wasn't about to let the chance get away from him. The boy reached for a Pokeball, but found that his backpack was gone. That was when he remembered what had happened.

"Sweet Jeremiah!" the boy yelled in frustration. "That kid took all my Pokemon!"

"Scyther scythe scythe!"

Ryan scowled at the Scyther. "All I wanted to do was catch you! And look at the mess you've gotten me in! Well, are you gonna help me or what? I need to get my Pokebuddies back!"

The mantis Pokemon didn't say anything to that, and when Ryan took a step forward to press the issue, it jumped back and flew off into the tall grass.

"Curses!" Ryan shook his fist at the sky. "What good's a Pokemon trainer without any Pokemon?"

He found Pallet Town to be in utter chaos when he returned. He remembered that Gillford - The Supreme Extreme, as he wanted to be called - had said Professor Oak had a whole bunch of godly Pokemon he was going to steal. Hopefully the kid hadn't stolen them yet, otherwise his own Pokemon could be long gone. But what Ryan found in the town did not get his hopes up.

Large three-tailed beasts were rampaging through the streets, running through houses, knocking over cars, and causing pedestrians to flee in all directions. Smoke and dust filled the air, as did the shouts of horrified citizens. _Gillford must've done this_, Ryan thought. _But he's careless… he let Professor Oak's Pokemon out without catching them first. _Ryan thought he saw Kelly and Rahul running down a street in the opposite direction, their Pokemon running alongside them. _They must be trying to help calm things down. _He frowned again, thinking about how he wanted to be there with them, how he wanted to show the world just how good a trainer he was. _But I'm not a good trainer. I lost all my Pokemon. I have to get them back!_

One of the beasts came Ryan's way, huffing and mooing and stamping its feet. Ryan ducke aside and pulled out old Dexy from his pocket.

"What the heck is that?" he asked his machine.

"Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokemon. A rowdy Pokémon with a lot of stamina. Once running, it won't stop until it hits something."

"Crap…" Ryan breathed. "This whole town's gonna get smashed to bits if that's true! We have to put a stop to this!"

Pocketing Lil' Dex, Ryan rushed forward, down the street, and into pandemonium. He kept running through the smoke and past the Pokemon and people until he came to Professor Oak's lab. It was situated on a hill, and as Ryan raced up the steps, he saw the figure of a boy in all black at the top.

When Ryan reached Gillford, he saw the young member of Team Rocket directing his Pokemon against those in Professor's Oak's backyard. He had knocked down a fence, letting out numerous Tauros and other creatures. At the same time, his own Pokemon, a Primeape, a Graveler, a Growlithe, a Poliwrath, and a Mr. Mime, were attacking Professor Oak's Pokemon (and the reserve Pokemon of all Pallet Town trainers), and Gillford had a bag of Pokeballs next to him. Whenever his Pokemon took out one of their quarry, he would throw a Pokeball and catch the thing. His pile was growing taller by the minute.

Ryan spied his own backpack on Gillford's back and ran over to get it, his fists raised, when, out of nowhere, something tackled him from behind. He saw sky; then he saw ground and tasted dirt and felt something squeezing him hard.

"Hahaha! You dummy!" Gillford said, turning around to meet Ryan. "I beat you again! I'm so powerful!" He raised his right hand and revealed that he was holding a piece of cardboard with a crudely-drawn female face on it, lipstick and all. He kissed the thing passionately. "Yeah, victory! I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm The Supreme Extreme!"

"You… you're crazy!" Ryan gasped as he felt himself being squeezed tighter. He looked around and caught a glimpse of the Pokemon holding him - a Tentacruel. It was using its wrap attack to immobilize and choke him.

"No, I'm The Supreme Extreme! And this is my wife, Mrs. Supreme Extreme. You'll tell her how beautiful she is!"

"No I won't," Ryan replied. "I don't do crazy!"

"She's beautiful!" Gillford squealed like a ten-year-old chipmunk. "Look, look! She's levitating! She's a god! She's reached a higher plane of existence!" he cried, waving around his cardboard girlfriend.

"Ba'hee Priss Dimmie…" Ryan muttered.

"What was that? You scoundrel! How dare you talk to a god like that! Is this anyway to treat the best Pokemon Master in the entire world?! Tentacruel, wrap him tighter! Make him feel supreme pain! For Team Rocket!"

The Tentacruel obliged and tightened its hold on Ryan. The blue-haired boy screamed; he felt like he was being pressed into a vise. Just when he felt the last bits of air leaving his lungs and began seeing spots, Ryan felt sudden relief - he felt himself falling forward. As he crashed into the ground, he beheld the Tentacruel fall down unconscious next to him.

"Wh… what's going… on…?" he gasped, rubbing his raw neck.

"Scyther! Scyyyyy!"

Before Ryan and Gillford stood the proud visage of the wild mantis Pokemon. It brandished its blade claws and screamed at Gillford. The Supreme Extreme shrieked like a schoolgirl and jumped back.

"Team of Gods, attack this wild animal!" he commanded his five quite average Pokemon.

Catching his breath, Ryan stood up and walked over to Scyther. "Hey, thanks for that! I guess better late than never, right?"

"Scyther!" the thing said in a crazed scream.

"All right, you're gonna need to help me defeat this weird kid so I can get back my Pokemon, all right? One 'Scyther' for yes."

"Scyther."

That made Ryan smile. He took out Lil' Dex and aimed it at Scyther. "All right you gorgeous piece of metal, tell me what moves Scyther knows."

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty," Dex said in monotone. "This Scyther knows the moves: Agility, Slash, Swords Dance, and Focus Energy."

"We're in business!" Ryan whooped. Pointing at the five Pokemon converging on him and Scyther, he shouted, "Swords Dance, Scyther, now!"

The bug Pokemon began to convulse again, this time in the flavor of Lady Gaga, and it was almost too much for Ryan to watch. He felt like throwing up or throwing himself from a balcony - perhaps both. Yet, by the time he was done, Gillford's Pokemon had not yet reached him, so Ryan shrugged and shouted again.

"Okay, Slash 'em up! Two attacks in a row yeah!"

"Scytheeeeeeer!"

He moved like a scythe through cotton candy, a green tornado of pain and heartbreak. Soon, the five godly Pokemon fell to the ground, dazed and of no more use.

The Supreme Extreme looked like he was nearly in tears. "N-no! They were godly! I trained them myself! Star Serelinglingauliniean and Deshawn Equinneus are the two strongest Pokemon ever to live! It's a fact!"

Ryan didn't know (and didn't want to ask) why that insane trashboy had named his Pokemon so, and instead he stuck his tongue out. "Nananananana, I swept your team!"

"Cheater!" Gillford declared. "He's a cheater, isn't that right honey?" The cardboard cutout being held up by his right hand nodded. "See!"

"Yeah, I see!" Ryan replied, stepping forward and grinning. "I see you flying off into the distance! Scyther remove the trash! Send him where all good Team Rocket members go!"

And so he did. The Scyther bore down on Gillford and kicked him into the sky. Ryan's backpack fell off of Gillford from the force of the attack and landed harmlessly on the ground. As the boy sailed off into the wild blue yonder, he screeched:

"Noooooo! I'm blasting off for the first time!"

Scyther then followed that up by punting all of Gillford's Pokemon after him. _I guess he didn't catch any legendaries after all._

"Good boy, Scyther!" Ryan beamed. He grabbed his backpack, made sure all six of his Pokemon were tucked away in their Pokeballs, and then tossed the wild mantis Pokemon a treat. "It's an ultra-rare candy," Ryan explained. "I won it off of Rahul after he bet me he could do a handstand. He didn't even come close."

The Scyther caught the candy in its mouth and gulped it down. "Scyther scythe," it replied happily. Then, without warning, white light began to emanate from the Pokemon's body, and he began to shake. "Scytheeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" the Pokemon yelled in an alarmed tone.

"What's going on? Dex, explain!"

"You have given this Pokemon an ultra-rare candy. Ultra-rare candy is essentially Pokeroids," the Pokedex replied. "Good job. I hope you are proud of yourself. I know I am."

And such words could not have been truer, for as the light faded, Ryan noticed that where once had been a Scyther now stood a physical specimen of so fine a strain it would have impressed even dear old Ahnold. Covered in rippling muscles it was, massive and numerous, and its entire body seemed to shimmer with the light of midday. The Scyther was bigger than it had been before, and Ryan hoped that meant it was way more powerful now. It peered at the blue-haired boy solemnly.

"Now that's a god Pokemon if I ever saw one!" Ryan declared.

"Scyther," the animal whispered gruffly. Even its attitude had become more menacing.

"Okay boy, we still have a problem on our hands," Ryan continued. "Pinkbeard is still out there, plus all those Tauros are loose! We have to save Pallet Town, boy. It's up to us!"

"Scy scy scyther."

The two ran across to the other side of Professor Oak's lab where they could look down on the town. They could see Kelly and Dean and Rahul and Ash all battling the Tauros as best they could with the Pokemon they had. Ash's Pikachu and Rahul's Magneton were combining their electrical capabilities into one to try to zap the Tauros, but there were too many of the rampaging beasts and they were spread across the entire town. Kelly's Arcanine was running up and down the streets trying to flame the Tauros into submission, but after a few such fire attacks, one annoyed Tauros turned and charged him, knocking the Arcanine out cold.

"With that ultra-rare candy in your system, you should be able to take them on, right boy?" Ryan asked. When his Pokemon nodded, he pointed at the Tauros below. "Okay, go knock all of the Tauros out. Agility now! And once you're all fast, use Slash attacks!"

"Scyther."

The green Pokemon flew down to the half-ruined town and worked his way through the charging Tauros like a butcher through a bowl of brown. Gleefully Ryan watched as Scyther knocked out all of the Pokemon he came into contact with. He found Pinkbeard demagoguing on top of a car with his Pokemon around him and sent all of them where Gillford had gone. Two Tauros chose to storm him as he glided towards them, but Scyther dodged their simple attacks by flying over them. When he did a backflip in midair and then landed on their backs, Scyther wasted no time in knocking them unconscious.

In the center of Pallet Town, Rahul and Ash stood with their Pokemon as the Tauros charged them from all sides. It looked like they were going to be run over until Scyther appeared and slashed the Tauros into submission.

With the last Tauros incapacitated, silence descended on the devastated town. Ryan and Kelly and Rahul helped Ash collect the Tauros into Pokeballs. Dust hung heavy in the air as the sun began to set over the forest of the wilderness. As he was helping capture all of the sleeping Tauros, Ryan noticed Scyther standing on the edge of Pallet Town, far removed from the rest of the people, sharpening his blades on one another. Finding this most curious, the Pokemon trainer walked over to the wild Pokemon hesitantly.

"Hey, Scyther! What are you doing out here?"

"Scyther!"

"You're a hero, Scyther," Ryan said. "You saved everyone. I can't thank you enough! Without your help, I would've lost all the Pokemon I worked so hard to get."

"Scyther scyther."

Ryan scratched the back of his head. "So… why don't you come back with us? You could be my Pokemon. You could travel around Kanto with me! I'm going to collect all of the Gym Badges. It could be fun…"

"Scy…" the Pokemon replied, stepping away from Ryan.

"It's just… you know… I thought, after what we've just been through, together, you might wanna…"

"Scyther!" Scyther declared. He stared at Ryan for a moment, then turned away and took to the air.

"Wait, stop!" Ryan raised his hand. "Please, don't go!"

But Scyther did not listen. Instead, he flew on, above the tall grass, towards the setting sun. Ryan let his hand drop and felt tears come to his eyes. He did not move as he watched the wild mantis Pokemon become a speck on the pink-orange horizon.

A hand fell on Ryan's shoulder. "Hey kid, don't beat yourself up about it. Not every Pokemon can be tamed. Sometimes you've got to let them go."

Kelly's voice was soft, kind, unlike her. That had taken aback Ryan almost as much as Scyther fleeing. "Th-thanks," he mumbled, not turning to face her. He didn't want her to see him crying.

"Don't let it get to you, Ryan. There'll be plenty of time to catch more Pokemon. We've got a long way to go before we reach the Indigo League."

They watched the sun set for a few minutes before Kelly spoke again. The world was still as a painting, save for the sounds of feral Pokemon in the deep wilderness ahead. "Come on, we need to go back. Ash and Professor Oak wanted to talk to us. They're at the lab."

Ryan screwed up his face and wiped away his tears. He followed Kelly back into town, past the broken buildings and cars and refuse now covering most of the ground. They climbed the steps to Professor Oak's lab for a second time that day, and for Ryan, it was with a much heavier heart, even though he had gotten his Pokemon back.

Awaiting them at the top, just inside the building, were Ash, Rahul, Mrs. Ketchum, Dean, and Professor Oak himself. They all smiled warmly upon seeing Ryan.

"There he is," Professor Oak chuckled. "Thank you for saving my lab and the town, Ryan."

"No problem."

"I still can't believe that happened!" Mrs. Ketchum exclaimed. "My diner was nearly destroyed! Oh, it'll take Mimey forever to clean up the mess in there!"

"Yeah, I wonder what those two were up to letting all of my Tauros out," Ash wondered aloud. "Kelly, you said they were part of Team Rocket?"

"Well, the kid was," Kelly said. "His father is just a crusty old pirate."

"They did so much damage," Ash said, shaking his head. "I'm gonna have to stay here a lot longer than I had planned to help fix everything up."

"But it wasn't your fault," Kell reminded him. "Team Rocket should have to fix this."

"Knowing them, there's no way they would," Ash sighed. "But even though they managed to damage so much of the town, it would have been a lot worse if you hadn't helped us when you had, Ryan. Your Scyther really saved the day."

"Yeah…" Ryan replied, detached. "Couldn't have done it without him."

Ash patted him on the shoulder. "Here, as a token of our appreciation, take these." He reached in his pocket and pulled out four Pokeballs. "A Tauros for each of you for helping to save Pallet Town. I mean, I have a whole herd of them. I'm never going to use them all in battle. So please accept this gift."

"Oh yeah!" Rahul exclaimed, raising his screwdriver to the sky. "This calls for a celebration!" He clapped his hands and suddenly, two scantily-clad girls appeared holding plates of sweet rolls. Rahul didn't hesitate to stuff his mouth with as many as he could while everyone else watched on in slight bemusement.

"Well, unfortunately, we have to get going," Kelly said, finally breaking the awkward silence. "The Indigo League is starting pretty soon and all of us still need some more badges."

"Yeah," said Ryan cheerlessly.

"Before you go," Professor Oak spoke up, "wasn't there something you wanted? Ash told me one of you had a Pokemon with a name that needed changing."

Ryan had almost forgotten, after all the events that had taken place that day. He fumbled in his bag before finding his Charmeleon's Pokeball. Then, he presented it to Professor Oak. "If you can, I'd like to change this guy's name to Aegon, please."

As the day turned to night, our four heroes set out on their journey once again. They said their goodbyes to Ash, his mother, and Professor Oak, who all thanked them profusely for helping them re-capture the Tauros. They left Pallet Town a grim place; it would take many months, perhaps even years, for that humble place to be repaired and rebuilt. Ryan wouldn't forget that. For all of Gillford's silly rambling, he was a genuinely bad person - he had threatened the lives of every member of Pallet Town and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property. If Ryan ever saw him again, he'd make that kid rue the day he attacked Professor Oak's lab.

They set off down Route 1, flashlights in hand. Fireflies were buzzing and the air was fresh with the smell of grass. Kelly and Rahul and Dean were all in high spirits because they had acquired a new Pokemon, but for Ryan, the gift of the Tauros did not replace what he felt he had lost in Scyther.

Ryan fell to the back of the group and pulled six Pokeballs out of his bag and released the Pokemon from them. Regardless of how he was feeling, he had an obligation to his Pokemon, to make sure they got enough attention and were well-loved. They were probably frightened from being recently captured, and he needed to alleviate their fears. Ryan needed to show them that they were home again. Abra, Clawey, Matata, Cloyster, Dragonair, and Aegon came tumbling out of their balls.

"Hey guys, I've missed you! How is everybody?" His Pokemon whooped and laughed and bade their master good evening. It was a good feeling, Ryan knew, having someone care for you. And his Pokemon did, just as he cared for them. "Let's go get some more badges, what do you say?"

His Pokemon screamed in agreement, and Ryan had to smile. As much as he wanted to wallow in regret, he couldn't. Life goes on. He had to get the rest of the Gym Badges before the Indigo League started, and now he had a team of six to do so. So Ryan and his Pokemon rejoined Kelly and Rahul and Dean as they set off down the road to Viridian City and their next adventure.


End file.
